In down-to-the-wire decision, Vividion picks Bayer deal over IPO

Turning away from a public offering at the last moment, Vividion instead chose a takeout bid from Bayer worth $1.5 billion up front, giving the pharma a chemoproteomics platform to discover new ways of reaching difficult-to-drug targets.

The preclinical biotech had filed an IPO prospectus on June 25, but never amended the document to propose terms of an offering. Instead, shareholders including Arch Venture Partners, Versant Ventures and Cardinal Partners will receive an initial ten-figure payout that could be augmented by another $500 million in milestones, pushing the deal’s total value to $2 billion...