Concentra, on the hunt for deals, bids for LianBio
2 min read
Dive Brief:
- Concentra Biosciences has made an unsolicited bid to acquire all outstanding shares of LianBio, a biotechnology company focused on bringing medicines to China and other Asian markets.
- Concentra, which is controlled by Tang Capital, is offering $4.30 per share of LianBio along with a contingent value right for 80% of the net proceeds from any LianBio licenses or assets that Concentra might sell after a deal.
- An offer letter from Tang Capital’s Kevin Tang, filed Thursday, cited LianBio’s recent deal selling Bristol Myers Squibb rights in China and other Asian country markets to the heart drug mavacamten, which Bristol Myers owns elsewhere in the world. LianBio will receive $350 million through the deal.
Dive Insight:
Hedge fund Perceptive Advisors launched LianBio in 2020, with the idea the company could gain rights to medicines and bring them to China and other nearby markets. Initially, the company had licenses to several cancer and heart disease drugs, including mavacamten, which was then owned by MyoKardia.
Bristol Myers later acquired MyoKardia for $13.1 billion, inheriting the license agreement with LianBio that it’s now bought out.
Tang Capital, meanwhile, has been on the hunt for deals amid a biotech market that’s been on a downswing. Through Concentra, Tang has this fall made offers to acquire Rain Oncology following that company’s restructuring in the wake of a trial failure. More recently, it bid $3.80 per share for Theseus Pharmaceuticals, which has also received a take-private proposal from backers Foresite Capital and OrbiMed Advisors.
The deals included a similar contingent value rights component as Concentra’s offer to LianBio. Both Rain and Theseus are still considering their options.
Tang and Concentra have had mixed success in earlier deal offers this year. Atea Pharmaceuticals ultimately rejected a bid that it claimed “undervalue[d] the company,” while Jounce Therapeutics agreed to abandon a merger plan with Redx Pharma and accept an offer from Concentra.
Kevin Tang, Tang Capital Partners and Tang Capital Management collectively own about 25% of LianBio, the Thursday securities filing showed. Concentra gave LianBio a deadline of Dec. 8 to respond.
