Life sciences dealmaking and financing heated up during the second week of June. Spanish healthcare company Grifols signed an agreement to acquire Talecris Biotherapeutics for a combination of cash and newly-issued Grifols non-voting shares for an aggregate value of approximately $3.4 billion ($4 billion including net debt).

Grifols is a leading global provider of plasma protein therapeutics while Talecris is a major provider of plasma products in the United States. The combination will create an international company with complementary geographic footprints and products, and increased manufacturing scale.

 

Under the terms of their agreement, Grifols will acquire all of the common stock of Talecris for $19 in cash and 0.641 newly-issued non-voting Grifols' shares for each Talecris share, representing an implied price of $26.16 per Talecris share. That represents a premium of 53 percent to the average closing price of Talecris common stock over the last 30 days. The total implied offer value for Talecris is $3.4 billion (euro 2.8 billion) and the resulting transaction value, including net debt, is approximately $4 billion (euro 3.3 billion).

 

The deal could mean a windfall for private equity firm Cerebrus as it moves to stem losses from its other investments. Cerebrus, along with Amersand Ventures, bought Talecris in 2004, turned the company profitable, and sold some of its shares in an IPO in October 2009. According to Reuters Breakingviews, Cerebrus could make as much as a twentyfold return on its investment.

 

Forest Laboratories entered into a license agreement with North Carolina-based TransTech Pharma for the development and commercialization of TransTech’s functionally liver-selective glucokinase activators, a novel class of glucose-lowering small molecules for the treatment of diabetes. Under the terms of their license agreement, Forest will pay TransTech Pharma an upfront fee of $50 million. TransTech Pharma is also eligible to receive up to $1.1 billion in upfront and milestone payments for the successful development and commercialization of the glucokinase activator compounds.

 

The portfolio licensed by Forest consists of a lead compound, TTP399, which has completed phase 1 studies and other compounds in early stage and pre-clinical stages of development. The relatively large upfront payment for an early stage compound indicates a growing interest in new treatments for diabetes, a growing worldwide problem.

 

GlaxoSmithKline acquired Laboratorios Phoenix, a leading branded generics drugmaker in Argentina, a deal that extends GSK’s pharmaceutical portfolio in Latin America.

 

Phoenix has a broad based portfolio covering the cardiology, gastroenterology, neuroscience, metabolic, urology and analgesic therapy areas. Besides the extensive pipeline, GSK gains development capability in Argentina. 

 

Norwegian biotech OptiNose turned to private equity instead of venture capitalists for its latest round of cash. Avista Capital Partners invested $48.5 million to advance OptiNose’s nasal drug delivery technology into late stage trials. The innovative technology enables administration of drugs deep in the nasal cavity, enabling the treatment of both local and systemic disease. In conjunction with the investment, OptiNose is reincorporating in the United States and moving its headquarters from Oslo, Norway to Yardley, Pennsylvania.

 

Madison, Wisconsin-based Virent Energy Systems, closed a $46.4 million third round of funding in which Shell and Cargill deepened their commitment to Virent’s breakthrough technology platform that converts plant sugars into sustainable advanced fuels for car, truck, train, and air transportation. This new round of funding will advance Virents efforts to scale its unique process, a patented catalytic biorefinery platform, to commercial production volumes.