Japanese glass manufacturer AGC has launched a voluntary tender offer (VTO) of €240 million to acquire the complete shares of Milan-based research and development company Molecular Medicine (Molmed).
Molmed is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on research, development, manufacturing and clinical validation of gene & cell therapies.
It offers services for the development and manufacturing of gene & cell therapies for third parties and/or in partnership at its authorised facilities.
This VTO is subject to certain conditions, such as the acceptances of the VTO of a number of shares representing not lower than 66.7% of the entire share capital.
Further details of the VTO will be contained in the offer document which will be published in the next few weeks.
This VTO is backed by Molmed’s largest shareholder, Fininvest S.p.A. (holding 23.13% of the shares of Molmed) which has irrevocably undertaken to bring all of its Molmed shares in the VTO, and we expect endorsement from Molmed management as well.
Gene & cell therapy is an innovative therapeutic method that aim to treat diseases that do not have adequate treatments to date.
Approximately 1000 clinical trials are underway worldwide, and the market is expected to grow at a rapid rate.
Through the acquisition of Molmed, AGC will enter into the innovative gene & cell therapy field to expand its CDMO offering to the area where there is a strong imbalance between demand and supply of specific skills and production capacity worldwide.