Bergen to Purchase Competitor : Health: The huge drug and health products wholesaler plans to buy Durr-Fillauer for $470 million.

ORANGE — Bergen Brunswig Corp., proving that persistence sometimes pays off, said Tuesday that its Alabama competitor, Durr-Fillauer Medical Inc., had agreed to be purchased for $470 million in cash.

The agreement came two months after Bergen Brunswig, the nation’s second-largest drug and health products wholesaler, launched an unfriendly takeover bid for much-smaller Durr-Fillauer. Bergen Brunswig’s bid was spurred by Durr-Fillauer’s announcement June 2 that it had agreed to merge with Cardinal Distribution Inc. of Dublin, Ohio.

That upset Bergen Brunswig, whose previous merger overtures had been rebuffed by the Montgomery, Ala.-based company. The Orange County firm countered with a strategy that included haggling, threatening legal action and waging a bidding war that drove the smaller wholesaler’s stock up by more than 50%.

Company officials and analysts said the combined entity will have a solid base in the West and Southeast and annual sales of about $6 billion. It will be second only to McKesson Corp. of San Francisco, the nation’s largest health products wholesaler, with annual sales of more than $7 billion.

“I think the combination will be very good for Bergen,” said Steven Huffines, an analyst at Sterne, Agee & Leach in Atlanta. “They are getting a fair deal.”

Huffines said Durr-Fillauer finally agreed to merge with Bergen Brunswig because it was able to outbid Cardinal Distribution.

Bergen Brunswig, which offered in early July to buy Durr-Fillauer for $26 a share, later sweetened its bid to $33 to thwart Cardinal’s competing offer. Cardinal never bid more than $30.50 a share, or $430 million, including assumption of $70 million in debt.

Bergen Brunswig’s hostile approach, however, may have created enemies inside Durr-Fillauer, analysts said.

“It was a less than friendly takeover,” said Donald Spindel, an analyst for the brokerage A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. “But that doesn’t mean things can’t be resolved.”

Company officials said that, with the exception of several top executives, there will be no immediate layoffs at either Bergen Brunswig or Durr-Fillauer. Durr-Fillauer, at least in the near future, will operate independently, although under the Bergen Brunswig name.