What happened
On a gloomy day for the stock market, healthcare aesthetics specialist Soliton (SOLY) was a luminous bright spot on Tuesday. The company's shares rocketed almost 12% higher, on news that its absorption into soon-to-be-parent AbbVie (ABBV -4.58%) is about to close.
So what
Soliton pointed out in a regulatory filing this morning that the waiting period mandated under law for deals like AbbVie's acquisition expired Monday night. With that out of the way, Soliton believes the acquisition will close "on or about" this Thursday, Dec. 16.
Image source: Getty Images.
The deal was first announced in mid-May. The two companies agreed that AbbVie's Allergan Aesthetics unit would acquire Soliton and its RESONIC device for $22.60 per share; all told, the enterprise value of the deal is around $550 million. The movement in Soliton's shares on Tuesday parked the price at just under that per-share amount, at $22.55.
RESONIC is a device that, in Soliton's description, "uses non-invasive rapid, high-frequency sound waves to disrupt targeted cellular structures and connective tissue, physically impacting the fibrous septae beneath the skin that contribute to the dimpled appearance of cellulite."
This is very appealing to AbbVie. Soliton quoted the big healthcare company's President of Global Allergan Aesthetics, Carrie Strom, as saying that RESONIC "offers a new, completely non-invasive approach with clinically proven results to reduce the appearance of cellulite with no patient downtime."
Now what
Soliton is about to end its life as a separate company. Once the AbbVie deal is completed, it will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the larger entity. While there is still a bit of room left for investors to squeeze a few pennies arbitraging the current price with that agreed sale price, the story of Soliton as a separate investment is over for now.
