April 27, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Swedish biopharma Swedish Orphan Biovitrum , also known as Sobi, confirmed on Monday that it had received a preliminary takeover offer from an unnamed suitor, with the amount undisclosed.
But with a market cap of $4.2 billion, and past suitors rumored to be Pfizer Inc. or Biogen, Inc., any takeover deal with certainly be large enough to put it in the stable of $193.9 billion worth of M&A activity already done in the healthcare sector in 2015.
“The Board of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (publ) notes the recent speculation in the press and elsewhere regarding a potential acquisition of the company,” said the company.
“The Board confirms that it has received a preliminary and conditional non-binding proposal in relation to a possible offer for all shares issued by the company,” it said in a statement. “There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms of any such offer.”
Based in Stockholm, Sobi specializes in therapies for rare diseases, including hemophilia, for which it makes a well-known blood clotting treatment, ReFacto AF, via an existing partnership with Pfizer.
The company has been rumored to have been entertaining suitors for a while now, with Bloomberg reporting last week that the company “has held on-and-off again talks with potential buyers since last year as its stock trades at an all-time high.”
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that Sobi has teamed with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help it find a suitable buyer, though representatives from either company would not confirm that alliance.
Sobi’s largest stakeholder is Investor AB, an investment arm owned by Sweden’s billionaire Wallenberg family, which owns about 40 percent of Sobi’s stock. They have not yet issued statement on how they’d feel about any potential buyout.
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