No recommendation
No news or research item is a personal recommendation to deal. Hargreaves Lansdown may not share ShareCast's (powered by Digital Look) views.
(Sharecast News) - Shares in Silence Therapeutics more than doubled on Monday, after the US-listed British biotech agreed to be taken over by Germany's Merck in a $1.3bn deal.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Silence shareholders will receive $20 in cash per American depositary share, with each ADS representing three ordinary Silence shares. The all-cash offer represents a 130% premium and values the business at around $1.3bn.
Iain Ross, chair of Silence, said the sale would deliver "significant, immediate and certain value" to shareholders.
He continued: "This transaction...reflects the progress we have made advancing our differentiated siRNA [short interfering RNA] pipeline. It also provides a new home for our innovative programmes within Merck, placing Divesiran with a company that has the scale, resources and commercial capabilities to accelerate its phase III development."
Divesiran is a product candidate that is being developed as a treatment for PV, a rare type of blood cancer characterised by the excessive production of red blood cells. It is one of a number of siRNA therapies being developed by the business.
Kai Beckmann, group chief executive of Merck, said: "Following the acquisition of SpringWorks Therapeutics last year, we continue to transform our pipeline towards areas of high specialisation and unmet medical need, with an ongoing commitment to external innovation. This proposed transaction follows Merck's strategic priority to address attractive end markets also through M&A, creating value over the mid to long-term."
As at 1330 BST, shares in Silence had soared 126%, while Merck's German shares were largely unchanged.
Founded in 1994, London-based Silence debuted on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's junior market, in 1995. In 2020 it undertook a direct listing of ADS on Nasdaq, before delisting entirely from AIM in 2021.
Darmstadt-based Merck - which is separate to America's Merck & Co - specialises in life sciences, healthcare and electronics. Tracing its roots back to 1668, it remains majority owned by the founding Merck family.