Novartis aims to acquire all of Speedel
The Basel pharmaceutical group Novartis plans to fully acquire a research partner – the biotech company Speedel - for about SFr907 million ($882 million).
Novartis announced on Thursday that in a first step it had raised its stake in Speedel, which has a number of projects targeting heart disease, by 51.7 per cent to 61.4 per cent.
In a statement, Novartis said it had bought the shares from major Speedel shareholders – including 21.5 per cent from Speedel chief executive Alice Huxley – for SFr130 per share in cash.
It said it would offer the same price to shareholders for the remaining stake.
The two companies have worked together to develop a hypertension treatment that became the first new medicine for high blood pressure in more than a decade.
Novartis says the Speedel pipeline provides access to many research and development projects targeting heart disease.
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