- Hours after Merck & Co Inc’s (NYSE:MRK) announcement to acquire Acceleron Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:XLRN), one of Acceleron’s activist investors isn’t happy with the price tag.
- Related: Merck Seals Acceleron Pharma Deal For $180/Share: Highlights.
- Avoro Capital, which beneficially owns approximately 7% of Acceleron, slammed $180-apiece price, arguing it “drastically undervalues” Acceleron.
- Avoro argues that, instead of going on sale right now, Acceleron should wait for more clinical trial data from the deal centerpiece, pulmonary arterial hypertension candidate sotatercept, to get a better price.
- The investment manager feels “incredibly strongly” that the transaction would hurt Acceleron shareholders if allowed as is, it said in a statement.
- When Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal first reported on the deal a few days ago, SVB Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges noted that the $180-per-share price would represent a 45% premium to Acceleron’s average share price from mid-April to mid-August.
- Avoro calculated the premium at 38% against Acceleron’s stock price before the rumor and noted that the premiums of biopharma M&As since 2020 have averaged about 89%.
- Price Action: XLRN stock is up 1.66% at $174.98, MRK shares are up 9.45% at $82.21 during the market session on the last check Friday.
Compass Point Downgrades Hercules Cap to Neutral, Announces $18 Price Target
Compass Point analyst Casey Alexander downgrades Hercules Cap (NYSE:HTGC) from Buy to Neutral and announces $18 price target.
