Aralez Pharmaceuticals has announced the completion of the business combination of POZEN Inc. and Tribute Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. following approval of the transaction by stockholders of POZEN and shareholders of Tribute. The combined company will operate under Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc., a global specialty pharmaceutical company with operations in Canada, Ireland and the United States. Under the terms of the Agreement and Plan of Merger and Arrangement, each share of POZEN common stock has been converted into the right to receive one Aralez common share and each common share of Tribute (other than dissenting shares) has been exchanged for 0.1455 Aralez common shares.
As of closing, Aralez has approximately 75 million outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis. Commencing on or about February 8, 2016, Aralez will trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "ARLZ", and on or about February 10, 2016 will begin trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") under the ticker symbol "ARZ".
"As Aralez, we have established an efficient platform that offers competitive advantages with committed capital to enable us to aggressively build out our portfolio through strategic business development and M&A, from which we plan to drive long-term value creation for shareholders," said Adrian Adams, Chief Executive Officer of Aralez. "We have a lean, nimble and performance-oriented operating business model that will allow us to build value organically and through accretive transactions and as such we believe that Aralez is well positioned for further transformational growth."