Vancouver’s Zymeworks has received an unsolicited offer from investment firm All Blue Capital to acquire the publicly traded company for USD $10.50 per share, for a total of USD $773 million in cash.
The proposal offers a share price more than twice the value at market close today. Dubai-based All Blue Capital currently owns close to 5.5% of Zymeworks’ shares.
“We believe that the Company has suffered from severe value erosion due to a number of serious missteps by an unfocused leadership with no clear strategy for improving performance,” All Blue’s letter to the board said.
Zymeworks, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has had a rocky 2022 so far.
Co-founder Ali Tehrani, who had served as President and CEO since 2003, was replaced as CEO by Kenneth Galbraith in January and two weeks later the company announced that it would lay off at least 25% of its staff this year.
Zymeworks released a statement Thursday afternoon. “The Zymeworks board of directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Zymeworks’ shareholders. The board reminds shareholders that no formal offer has been made.”
The statement continues, “as such there is no need for Zymeworks shareholders to take any action at this time. If a formal offer is made, it will be reviewed by the board with its advisors, and a formal recommendation by the board will be made to shareholders in due course.”
Leave a Reply