Sun Pharmaceutical Industries—controlled by Indian billionaire Dilip Shanghvi—has agreed to buy U.S.-based immunotherapy and oncology company Checkpoint Therapeutics for $355 million to bolster the Mumbai-based company’s drug portfolio.
Under the deal, Sun Pharma will buy the outstanding shares of the Massachusetts-based company for $4.10 each, representing a premium of approximately 66% to Checkpoint’s closing share price last Friday, the Indian pharmaceutical giant said in a statement on Monday.
“The acquisition further bolsters our innovative portfolio in onco-derm therapy,” Shanghvi, chairman and managing director of Sun Pharma, said in the statement.
The transaction is expected to be completed by June this year, pending approvals from regulators and Checkpoint’s shareholders. Sun Pharma also agreed to pay Checkpoint shareholders an additional cash of up to $0.70 per share subject to certain conditions.
“Sun Pharma is aligned with Checkpoint’s commitment to improving the lives of skin cancer patients,” Checkpoint president and CEO James Oliviero said in the statement. “This transaction will maximize value for our stockholders.”
The US Food and Drug Administration approved Checkpoint’s drug UNLOXCYT for treating adults with metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, the second-most common skin cancer in the U.S.
Shanghvi has a real-time net worth of $24.9 billion based on Forbes’ data. The son of a pharmaceutical distributor started Sun Pharma in 1983 with a $200 loan from his father to produce psychiatric drugs. Today, the company is India’s most valuable listed drug maker, with a market capitalization of over $44 billion. It has expanded in recent years through multiple acquisitions, including the purchase of India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories in 2014 and U.S.-based Concert Pharmaceuticals two years ago.
Read the full article here
