A researcher works in an industrial development laboratory at the French drugmaker’s vaccine unit Sanofi Pasteur plant in Marcy-l’Etoile, near Lyon, on June 16, 2020.
Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Shares of Kadmon Holdings were soaring in premarket trading Wednesday after French drugmaker Sanofi said it was buying the U.S. biopharmaceutical company for $9.50 a share in cash, or a total equity value of $1.9 billion.
Kadmon (ticker: KDMN) shares were jumping 73.58% to $9.20. The deal is a 79% premium to Kadmon’s closing price Tuesday at $5.30. Kadmon has risen 27% so far this year.
Kadmon’s market cap is about $901 million.
The deal adds Rezurock to Sanofi ‘s transplant portfolio. Rezurock, recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is a treatment for chronic graft-versus-host disease for adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older who have failed at least two prior lines of systemic therapy.
Kadmon’s pipeline includes drug candidates for immune and fibrotic diseases as well as immuno-oncology therapies.
“We are excited that Sanofi has acknowledged the value of Rezurock and the deep potential of our pipeline,” said Dr. Harlan Waksal, Kadmon’s president and chief executive. “By leveraging Sanofi’s global resources and long-standing expertise in developing and commercializing innovative medicines, Rezurock is now well positioned for global accessibility, faster.”
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. Sanofi said the transaction will be “modestly dilutive” to earnings per share in 2022.
Sanofi last month agreed to Translate Bio (TBIO), the company specializing in messenger RNA technology, the same used by Moderna (MRNA) and BioNTech (BNTX) in their Covid-19 vaccines, for $3.2 billion.
Translate Bio Stock Jumps After Agreeing to Be Bought by Sanofi. Why It’s a Smart Deal.
Analysts at Mizuho Securities rate Kadmon at a Buy with a price target of $13.
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