Merck & Co. has completed its previously announced $2.7-billion acquisition of ArQule, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of kinase inhibitors for treating cancer and other diseases. With the completion of the deal, ArQule became a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck. Merck had announced the acquisition in December 2019.

ArQule’s lead investigation candidate is an oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor currently in a Phase II dose-expansion study for the treatment of B-cell malignancies.

The transaction was completed through a subsidiary, for which all of the outstanding shares of common stock of ArQule were tendered at a purchase price of $20 per share. As of the tender offer expiration, 103,394,298 shares of common stock of ArQule were validly tendered and not withdrawn from the tender offer, representing approximately 75.3% of the outstanding common stock of ArQule on a fully diluted basis.

Following the completion of the tender offer, Merck completed the acquisition of ArQule through a merger of Merck’s wholly owned subsidiary with and into ArQule in which all shares not tendered into the offer were cancelled and converted into the right to receive cash equal to the $20 offer price per share, without interest, less any applicable tax withholding.

Source: Merck & Co.