While this weekend’s deal between Astrazeneca and Alexion shows that the pandemic has not stopped M&A, the size and number of deals struck this year is significantly down on 2019. Arguably this is an unfair comparison following 2019’s M&A bonanza, and at least biopharma companies have managed a couple of big-ticket acquisitions this year. The $39bn Astra is paying has saved 2020 from being the worst year for M&A since 2017, and is the only deal this year big enough to be considered a megamerger. Otherwise, there appears to be a marked preference for single-digit billion dollar deals. Partly this trend might be due to the resilience the biopharma sector has shown over the past year; asset prices have continued to grow, leaving Nasdaq on track to finish 2020 at historic highs. The amount of funding in the sector has also given smaller companies a better position to resist takeouts. With only weeks left in December, unless a raft of megadeals materialises 2020 will best be remembered as a year where deals continued to be struck despite the circumstances, albeit for some of the biggest premiums in recent history.
| Biggest takeout deals of 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquirer | Target | Date | Deal status | Value ($bn) |
| Astrazeneca | Alexion | 14 Dec | Open | 39.0 |
| Gilead | Immunomedics | 13 Sep | Closed | 21.0 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | Myokardia | 5 Oct | Closed | 13.1 |
| Johnson & Johnson | Momenta | 19 Aug | Closed | 6.5 |
| Gilead | Forty Seven | 2 Mar | Closed | 4.9 |
| Bayer | Asklepios | 26 Oct | Closed | 4.0 |
| Sanofi | Principia | 16 Aug | Closed | 3.7 |
| Merck & Co | Velosbio | 5 Nov | Open | 2.6 |
| Nestlé | Aimmune | 31 Aug | Closed | 2.6 |
| Novo Nordisk | Corvidia | 11 Jun | Closed | 2.1 |
| Source: EvaluatePharma. https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/news/snippets/astrazeneca-rescues-biopharmas-2020-takeover-scorecard | ||||
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.