Sanofi beats Novo to buy Ablynx for $4.8 billion in biotech M&A boom
Ablynx
PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi has agreed to buy  Belgian biotech company Ablynx  for 3.9 billion euros ($4.8 billion)  beating Novo Nordisk and marking its second big deal this month after buying Bioverativ.
The deal is a further sign of accelerating merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the global biotech sector and comes after  Ablynx  rejected a 2.6 billion euro offer from Denmark’s Novo Nordisk.
Sanofi said on Monday it would pay 45 euros per share in cash for Ablynx  a premium of 21 percent over its closing price on Friday - and more than double the price before Novo went public with its initial bid.
Novo Nordisk conceded defeat  saying it did not intend to make a revised offer for Ablynx  which is developing a prized experimental drug for a rare blood disorder.
Sanofi said  Ablynx  would boost long-term value for  its  shareholders  while the takeover was expected to have a neutral impact on Sanofi’s business earnings per share (EPS) in 2018 and 2019.
Sanofi is already one of  Ablynx ’s big pharma partners  after striking a deal in July 2017 to find new treatments for inflammatory diseases.
By buying the company outright it will now get access to  Ablynx ’s most promising asset  the experimental drug caplacizumab for treating the rare bleeding disorder acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.
Sanofi will be able to use its existing infrastructure and the recently acquired platform from Bioverativ to help to commercialize caplacizumab. It will also benefit from some of the other drugs  Ablynx  is working on  such as an infant anti-viral treatment  that would not have fitted within Novo Nordisk.
Berenberg analysts said  Ablynx  was a good fit but they estimated the deal would generate no more than a 4 percent return on invested capital  assuming caplacizumab sales of around 400 million euros by 2023.
The Danish group has sat out previous rounds of M&A in the drugs sector to focus on its core diabetes business but it now needs to find new products for its struggling smaller biopharmaceutical unit  where Ablynx would have been a good fit.
Morgan Stanley and Lazard advised Sanofi on the deal while JP Morgan advised Ablynx.
PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi has agreed to buy  Belgian biotech company Ablynx  for 3.9 billion euros ($4.8 billion)  beating Novo Nordisk and marking its second big deal this month after buying Bioverativ.
The deal is a further sign of accelerating merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the global biotech sector and comes after  [TGT]rejected a 2.6 billion euro offer from Denmark’s Novo Nordisk.
Sanofi said on Monday it would pay 45 euros per share in cash for [TGT]  a premium of 21 percent over its closing price on Friday - and more than double the price before Novo went public with its initial bid.
Novo Nordisk conceded defeat  saying it did not intend to make a revised offer for Ablynx  which is developing a prized experimental drug for a rare blood disorder.
Sanofi said  [TGT]would boost long-term value for  [TGT]shareholders  while the takeover was expected to have a neutral impact on Sanofi’s business earnings per share (EPS) in 2018 and 2019.
Sanofi is already one of  Ablynx ’s big pharma partners  after striking a deal in July 2017 to find new treatments for inflammatory diseases.
By buying the company outright it will now get access to  Ablynx ’s most promising asset  the experimental drug caplacizumab for treating the rare bleeding disorder acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.
Sanofi will be able to use its existing infrastructure and the recently acquired platform from Bioverativ to help to commercialize caplacizumab. It will also benefit from some of the other drugs  [TGT]is working on  such as an infant anti-viral treatment  that would not have fitted within Novo Nordisk.
Berenberg analysts said  [TGT]was a good fit but they estimated the deal would generate no more than a 4 percent return on invested capital  assuming caplacizumab sales of around 400 million euros by 2023.
The Danish group has sat out previous rounds of M&A in the drugs sector to focus on its core diabetes business but it now needs to find new products for its struggling smaller biopharmaceutical unit  where [TGT] would have been a good fit.
Morgan Stanley and Lazard advised Sanofi on the deal while JP Morgan advised [TGT].