Tree hugging

Forest Laboratories Inc.'s efforts to renew its growth by in-licensing commercial stage products and cutting costs culminated in last week's $25 billion takeout offer from Actavis plc. Recent Forest investors are getting about a 25% return, while longer-term holders are doing an order of magnitude better.

The deal between the two specialty pharmas values Forest at $89.48 per share, a 25% premium to its close of $71.39 on Feb. 14, before the deal was announced...