Translate Bio stock was soaring on reports of a Sanofi takeover bid.
Thomas Lohnes / AFP via Getty Images
Translate Bio stock was soaring in premarket trading after Sanofi agreed to acquire the company specializing in messenger RNA technology, the same used by Moderna and BioNTech in their Covid-19 vaccines.
Sanofi will pay $38 per share in cash, or $3.2 billion, for Translate, confirming reports that had come on Thursday.
“Translate Bio adds an mRNA technology platform and strong capabilities to our research, further advancing our ability to explore the promise of this technology to develop both best-in-class vaccines and therapeutics, ” said Paul Hudson, Sanofi Chief Executive Officer. “A fully owned platform allows us to develop additional opportunities in the fast-evolving mRNA space. We will also be able to accelerate our existing partnered programs already under development. Our goal is to unlock the potential of mRNA in other strategic areas such as immunology, oncology, and rare diseases in addition to vaccines.”
Reuters first reported that Sanofi (ticker: SNY), which already has a partnership with Translate (TBIO), made an offer to acquire the messenger RNA-focused biotech.
Translate stock was 29% at $37.67 in premarket trading after trading up more than 80% in after-hours trading Thursday. Sanofi shares were up 0.2% to $51.70.
Translate specializes in the same mRNA technology that Moderna (MRNA) and BioNTech (BNTX) used to developed their Covid-19 vaccines. The company began a Phase 1 trial of an mRNA-based flu vaccine with Sanofi in June.
After earlier playing down the importance of mRNA in vaccines, Sanofi has started to bet big on the technology. In June, it announced plans to spend €400 million, or roughly $476 million a year, on a “vaccines mRNA Center of Excellence” that would enable to it speed up the research it was already doing with Translate. Now, it’s buying the whole company. It’s an abrupt shift for Sanofi, whose CEO had called predictions that mRNA technology would dominate vaccines “overblown.”
It’s been a volatile few days of trading for Translate. The stock hit a record of $35.61 this past Thursday before tumbling 22% on Friday on no news that we could see. It rallied 5.5% during regular market hours Monday before its after-hours surge.
Write to Ben Levisohn at [email protected]
