Roche Holding AG has struck a deal with Genentech Inc to acquire all outstanding shares in the U.S. biotech group for $46.8 billion, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday.

After a fierce battle that started last summer, the Swiss drugmaker finally clinched the deal to buy the 44 percent of the U.S. biotech group it doesn't already own after Genentech's board recommended shareholders accept an increased offer of $95 per share in cash.

Roche had raised its hostile bid to $93 per share last week, which prompted the restarting of talks between the two companies for a friendly deal, Roche Chairman Franz Humer said.

The buy-out is the third major deal in the pharmaceutical industry this year, after Pfizer Inc's agreement to buy Wyeth for $68 billion in January and Merck & Co Inc's $41 billion agreed bid for Schering-Plough Corp this week.

The deal is expected to be earnings-per-share-accretive in the first year after closing, Roche said in a statement, and the combined group would generate around $17 billion in annual revenue.

Roche's initial bid was rejected last year, and the Basel-based company turned hostile after several months, during which the financial crisis raised doubts about financing, and Genentech's shares fell below the offer price.

Roche, however, has successfully raised $39 billion in the bond market which, together with cash on hand, gave it the financial firepower to get a deal.

Buying Genentech will give Roche control of all revenues for big-selling cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin, as well as absorbing an attractive portfolio of new medicines.

Humer, said he did not believe there was a danger of losing Genentech employees -- a risk some analysts have voiced -- adding the deal would give an enormous amount of security to employees of both companies.

Humer is to meet with Genentech chief executive Arthur Levinson as quickly as possible to discuss whether Genentech management stays on.

(Additional reporting by Katie Reid and Jason Rhodes, and Ben Hirschler in London; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Medicine