The slow-moving regulatory review process is once again being blamed for the latest delay in Roche’s proposed $4.3 billion acquisition of Philadelphia gene therapy pioneer Spark Therapeutics Inc.
Roche said on Monday it is extending the offering period of its previously announced $114.5 per share tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Spark (NASDAQ: ONCE) to Oct. 1.
The move marks the sixth time the tender offer deadline was extended since the deal was announced in late February.
All terms and conditions of the offer remain unchanged during the extended period.
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“The offer was extended to provide additional time for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to complete their previously disclosed reviews of Roche’s pending acquisition of Spark,” the companies said in a joint statement. “The parties remain committed to the transaction and are working cooperatively and expeditiously with the FTC and the CMA.”
Roche and Spark last month amended their proposed $4.3 billion merger deal to extend the deadline for completing the transaction from the end of this year to the end of April 2020.
As of Aug. 30, just under 9.3 million shares of Spark, representing about 24.1% of the company’s outstanding shares, had been validly tendered and received. That figure is a slight drop from the 9.7 million shares, representing 25.2% of the outstanding stock, that had been tendered when the was extended in July.
The proposed deal calls for Spark to remain in Philadelphia and operate as a subsidiary of Roche, which is based in Basel, Switzerland.
Spark, spun out of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 2013, became the first company to receive Food and Drug Administration approval for a gene therapy to treat an inherited condition when its flagship product Luxturna — a one-time treatment for a retinal disorder that leads to blindness — was approved in December 2017.
The company is also developing gene therapies to treat other genetic diseases, including hemophilia, lysosomal storage disorders and neurodegenerative disorders.
Date: September 10, 2019
Source: The Business Journals
