BASEL (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis is reaching for the biotech company Morphosys. The Swiss are putting 2.7 billion euros on the table. Novartis is particularly interested in the promising drug Pelabresib - the cancer drug could become a blockbuster. The Management Board and Supervisory Board of MorphoSys support the Swiss offer.

Morphosys shareholders will be offered 68 euros per share, Novartis and Morphosys announced on Monday evening. The amount offered corresponds to a premium of 94 percent on the volume-weighted average share price of the last month before January 25, 2024, the date on which the first takeover speculation arose. The Novartis bid for the SDax company Morphosys had already been reported by the news agency Reuters on Monday afternoon.

The offer is subject to a minimum acceptance threshold of 65 percent of Morphosys' share capital. Closing is currently expected to take place in the first half of 2024, it added. Following the completion of the takeover bid, Morphosys is to be delisted from the stock exchange.

In this way, the Swiss want to secure the cancer drug pelabresib. Novartis has extensive resources at its disposal to "fully develop and expand the potential of pelabresib on a global scale", according to both companies. As part of the deal, MorphoSys will transfer all worldwide rights to the blood cancer drug tafasitamab (Monjuvi) to the US pharmaceutical company Incyte. MorphoSys is currently working with Incyte on the development and commercialization of tafasitamab.

According to market expert Andreas Lipkow, there is currently "a veritable hunt for promising small and medium-sized companies" in the oncology sector. Following Pfizer's takeover bid to Seagen shareholders at the beginning of last year, the sector has gained additional momentum.

However, Lipkow has doubts as to whether the takeover of the drug researcher Morphosys could have been carried out easily, given the current, comparatively low share price. The proportion of shares in free float is quite high, so the takeover price would have to be made palatable to shareholders with a corresponding premium, he said on Monday afternoon.

Study data on the drug pelabresib, the company's great hope, sent Morphosys' share price plummeting in November. As a result, there was enormous uncertainty on the market as to whether the cancer drug would be approved. As a result, Morphosys' share price halved within just eight trading days. In December, detailed pelabresib study data at the annual conference of US hematologists provided a new boost. Since then, investors have again been betting that the drug will receive US approval for the treatment of blood cancer and continue to be a blockbuster./stk