Halozyme, a biotech agency whose drug supply expertise is a key part of biologic medicines marketed by a number of massive pharma companions, goals to broaden its choices to those prospects via the proposed €2 billion acquisition of drug discovery and improvement companies supplier Evotec.
San Diego-based Halozyme disclosed the unsolicited provide after Thursday’s market shut. It comes as a personal fairness agency builds up its stake in Evotech, an organization that has weathered a number of enterprise setbacks up to now two years, mirrored in a inventory worth that has moved on a largely downward trajectory.
Hamburg, Germany-based Evotec issued an announcement acknowledging the provide, including that the corporate “will rigorously analyze this expression of curiosity, determine on subsequent steps, and inform the capital market in accordance with the authorized necessities.”
Shares of Evotec have traded on the Frankfurt Inventory Alternate since 1999. Evotec debuted on the Nasdaq in 2021, pricing its American depositary shares at $21.75 apiece. Evotec’s Tuesday closing worth on the Nasdaq was $5.10, which is on the low finish of the inventory’s 52-week vary.
Halozyme submitted a non-binding proposal to purchase Evotec for €11.00 (about $11.59) per share in money. That worth represents a 109% premium to Evotec’s inventory worth on Oct. 15, the day earlier than Triton Companions started a sequence of inventory purchases amounting to an fairness stake of about 10% within the firm. Halozyme’s provide represents a 77% premium to Evotec’s common inventory worth within the three months main as much as Oct. 15.
Evotec’s choices embrace computational instruments utilized in drug discovery and design. The corporate additionally affords manufacturing companies. Evotec’s prospects embrace Bristol Myers Squibb, Sanofi, and Novartis. Triton’s accumulation of Evotec shares comes because the German firm works to place itself on a greater course. In 2023, Evotech was the goal of a cyberattack that quickly shut down operations. The corporate earlier this yr determined to exit the gene remedy enterprise. Initially of November, Evotec bought a Hamburg manufacturing facility to non-public fairness agency Monacum Companions. All through this yr, Evotec has been working via a company restructuring that features layoffs to the rank and file together with C-suite modifications.
By way of workers, Evotec is the bigger firm with a workforce of about 4,000 primarily based in Europe. Halozyme’s headcount of about 373 is primarily based within the U.S. Halozyme’s major providing to its prospects is a drug supply expertise referred to as Enhanze. Biologic medicines are sometimes administered as intravenous infusions that may take an hour or extra. Enhanze permits biologic medicine to be administered as subcutaneous injections that take minutes. Corporations that incorporate Enhanze of their merchandise embrace Roche, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and AbbVie.
Measured by income, Halozyme is the bigger firm of the 2 corporations. For the primary 9 months of this yr, Halozyme reported $717.3 million in whole income. Evotec’s income via the primary three quarters of this yr was €575.7 million (about $607.4 million).
In a word despatched to traders, Leerink Companions analyst David Risinger mentioned Halozyme thinks now is a perfect time to accumulate the German firm. Halozyme believes Evotec’s cost-realignment measures place the corporate for a restoration, with market circumstances anticipated to enhance beginning in 2025, he mentioned.
Photograph: mikdem, Getty Photos
