Novo Nordisk challenges Pfizer takeover with USD6.5b bid for Metsera
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The news: Novo Nordisk has made an unsolicited takeover bid for obesity-focused biotech Metsera, derailing rival Pfizer’s takeover attempt of the biotech launched in September.
The numbers: Novo, maker of diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, has submitted and offer of USD56.50 ($86.15) per Metsera share, giving the target an aggregated equity value of USD6.5 billion. The deal includes an additional UDS21.25 pdf share, amounting to another USD2.5 billion, should the biotech achieve certain clinical and regulatory milestones.
Pfizer’s offer included USD47.50 per share in cash and up to USD22.50 per share in future payments tied to clinical and regulatory milestones.
Shares in Metsera rose as much as 19% in pre-market trading in New York on Thursday. Shares in Pfizer were flat and Novo Nordisk fell 3% in Denmark.
The context: Metsera responded to the new bid, calling Novo’s proposal “superior” than the offer received by Pfizer and said that Pfizer now has four days in which it has the right to negotiate changes to the original proposal. Following this if Metsera decides Novo’s offer remains better, it would have the right to terminate the Pfizer agreement.
Responding to the Novo bid, Pfizer said it is “aware of the reckless and unprecedented proposal by Novo Nordisk to acquire Metsera.”
Pfizer said the offer is an attempt by a company with dominant market position to “suppress competition in violation of law by taking over an emerging American challenger. It is also structured in a way to circumvent antitrust laws and carries substantial regulatory and executional risk.”
Pfizer added that Novo’s offer is “illusory” and cannot qualify as a superior proposal to Pfizer’s deal.
In a statement released Thursday, Novo said the deal would be “in line with Novo Nordisk’s long-term strategy of developing innovative and differentiated medicines and treating millions more people living with obesity and diabetes and their associated comorbidities.”
Novo’s statement confirmed an earlier report published by Bloomberg News.
The sources: Novo Nordisk, Metsera, Pfizer, Bloomberg
