Pharma

Pfizer secures enough shares for Icagen acquisition

Pfizer‘s (NYSE:PFE) Icagen (NASDAQ:ICGN) acquisition is a go. After two extensions last week, Pfizer announced […]

Pfizer‘s (NYSE:PFE) Icagen (NASDAQ:ICGN) acquisition is a go.

After two extensions last week, Pfizer announced today that it has enough shares tendered for sale  for the $56 million cash deal to proceed at the price of $6 per share. As of the 6 p.m. deadline on Sept. 2, 64 percent of outstanding shares of Icagen, representing approximately 54 percent of fully diluted shares, were tendered for the sale. Those shares have been accepted for payment and will be paid at the $6 per share price proposed when the deal was announced in July.

Pfizer’s initial offer for Durham, North Carolina-based Icagen had been challenged by some Icagen shareholders  as too low. They contended that the $6 per share price undervalued the potential of Icagen’s drug pipeline of pain treatment candidates and they withheld their shares, pressing for Pfizer to pay up to $19 per share. Icagen has partnered with Pfizer on R&D of its novel pain compounds since 2007, work financed largely by Pfizer. Before Pfizer’s interest in adding Icagen to its pain drug unit  became public in June, Icagen traded at around $2.40 per share.

Shareholders who did not tender their shares for the sale have a second chance. Pfizer announced a second offering at the same $6 per share price. That offering period expires 6 p.m. on Sept. 12. Icagen shareholders who do not tender their shares in the second offering will not receive payment for their shares until the deal is completed.

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