Sanofi leapfrogs Novo with $4.8bn cash bid for Ablynx

Bloomberg

Sanofi agreed to buy Belgium’s Ablynx NV for $4.8 billion, outbidding rival Novo Nordisk A/S to gain a potential blockbuster for a rare blood clotting disease.
Paris-based Sanofi will pay 45 euros a share in cash for all outstanding shares of Ablynx, it said. The price is 48 percent above Novo’s unsolicited offer of as much as 30.50 euros a share. Bagsvaerd, Denmark-based Novo conceded that it had lost, saying in a statement that it won’t try to outbid Sanofi.
The takeover will complement the $11.6 billion purchase of Bioverativ Inc., a maker of drugs for hemophilia, that Sanofi announced a week ago. CEO Olivier Brandicourt is returning to acquisitions to enter the field of blood disorders after losing out on two attempted takeovers in 2016. Sanofi’s arrival as a white knight is a setback for Novo’s effort to bolster its stable of treatments for rare blood disorders as its main diabetes business grapples with price pressures.
For Novo, “it’s very difficult to come back in once the two company boards have agreed on a deal,” Soren Lontoft Hansen, an analyst at Sydbank A/S, said. “And the difference between Novo’s initial offer and what they would have to offer now would also be too big.”
Ablynx shares jumped 20 percent to 44.68 euros at 11:15 am in Brussels. Sanofi fell 0.5 percent to 73.08 euros in Paris, while Novo dropped 0.7 percent to 345.35 kroner in Copenhagen.
Ablynx’s most advanced treatment, called caplacizumab, is poised for approval this year for an unusual disorder in which blood clots form in small vessels throughout the body. The Belgian company estimates it could garner annual sales of 1.2 billion euros at its peak.
Ablynx represents “a strong strategic fit, after Sanofi’s acquisition of Bioverativ,” Rebekah Harper, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said.
Sanofi will begin a tender offer for all of Ablynx’s outstanding shares. The deal is contingent on shareholders tendering at least 75 percent of the stock. Sanofi entered into a bank credit facility with BNP Paribas SA.
Ghent, Ablynx’s largest shareholder had said it might be receptive to a higher offer that reflected the value of those products.