Astellas Completes $3-Bn Acquisition of Audentes Therapeutics

Astellas has completed its $3-billion acquisition of Audentes Therapeutics, a San Francisco, California-based adeno-associated virus (AAV) clinical-stage gene-therapy company that focuses on rare neuromuscular diseases.

With the completion of the deal, Audentes will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Astellas and will serve as the Center of Excellence for the company’s newly created Genetic Regulation Primary Focus to provide leadership for AAV pipeline advancement through commercialization, manufacturing expansion, and research initiatives.

The transaction was completed through a tender offer on January 14, 2020 from Astellas’ indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Asilomar Acquisition Corp. for all of the issued and outstanding shares of the common stock of Audentes for a price of $60 per share net to the seller in cash and the subsequent merger of Asilomar with and into Audentes.

As of the expiration of the tender offer, 35,852,857 shares of Audentes common stock were validly tendered and not properly withdrawn, representing approximately 76.7% of the shares of Audentes common stock outstanding, and such shares have been accepted for payment under the terms of the tender offer.

Effective as of January 15, 2020, Natalie C. Holles has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Audentes. Audentes says it plans to submit a biologics license application for its investigational therapy, AT132, for the treatment of x-linked myotubular myopathy to the US Food and Drug Administration later in 2020.

Source: Astellas

 

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