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Chinook Therapeutics
stock surged 66% in premarket trading Monday after Swiss pharmaceutical company
Novartis
agreed to buy the biopharma company for up to $3.5 billion.
The company said it has entered an agreement to be acquired by
Novartis
(ticker; NVS) for $40 per share in cash, with a potential additional $4 per share in cash contingent on its kidney disease drug candidate atrasentan reaching certain regulatory milestones. Reaching those milestones would take the deal’s total value to $3.5 billion.
At $40 per share in cash, or a total of $3.2 billion, the upfront offer represents a 67% premium to Friday’s closing price of $23.99. The stock was trading at $39.90 ahead of open Monday.
The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023, Chinook (KDNY) said in a press release Monday.
“Chinook’s diversified pipeline of potentially best-in-class programs for rare, severe chronic kidney diseases will significantly expand the Novartis renal portfolio, complementing its existing pipeline,” it added.
Novartis’ American depositary receipts were 0.3% lower in premarket trading Monday.
Write to Callum Keown at [email protected]