Where Mirati’s premium falls among M&A deals this year
Mature assets have been a theme among this year’s $1B+ takeouts, but Mirati fetched one of the lowest premiums despite its marketed product
This week’s announcement that BMS is acquiring Mirati marked at least the 16th acquisition of a public biotech this year where the total deal value was north of $1 billion, and although it was the first where the deal’s share price was lower than the acquired company’s closing price the day before the acquisition was announced, rumors of a takeout had pushed up the stock in the preceding days.
The $58-per-share acquisition of Mirati Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:MRTX) by Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY), announced Monday, came at a 4% discount to the Mirati’s share price at the close of the previous week, but a 35% premium to its $42.89 closing price on Oct. 4, before rumors started circulating of a potential takeout. But even a 35% premium is still on the low end of this year’s deals, coming in just ahead of the 33% premium Pfizer Inc. (NASDAQ:PFE) paid for Seagen Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN). However, at $43 billion, the Pfizer-Seagen deal was an outlier in terms of absolute size, and it too was preceded by a run-up of the acquired company’s share price...