American multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer has agreed to buy a 9.9 percent stake in China-based Cstone Pharmaceuticals, media reports said.
Pfizer has agreed to buy 115.93 million new shares of CStone at HK$13.37 apiece, representing a 43.8 percent premium over the closing price of HK$9.30 on Tuesday.
CStone said in a security exchange filing that it will use the proceeds from the share sale to fund development activities and strategic collaboration.
It is reported that the transaction has received the necessary internal approvals of both companies. Closing is not subject to approval by CStone’s shareholders. While Goldman Sachs is acting as financial advisor to CStone, Cooley LLP served as legal advisor. Clifford Chance LLP served as Pfizer’s legal advisor.
The Shanghai-based pharmaceuticals company said the deal would allow it to focus on product development and strengthen its ability to commercialise CS1001 – an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody.
CStone and Pfizer will develop and commercialise additional late-stage oncology therapies in Greater China, Pfizer said in a statement.
Frank Jiang, chairman and chief executive officer at CStone told the media, “Pfizer’s investment in CStone is a statement of its confidence in the potential of our anti-PD-L1 treatment and recognition of our research and development capabilities. By joining forces with Pfizer and leveraging its commercialisation infrastructure, we will ensure that patients across a vastly expanded number of markets in China have quicker access to our highly differentiated PD-L1 treatment. In addition, we have advanced our transformation into a full-fledged biopharmaceutical company by forging a collaboration that will enable us to accelerate development and commercialisation of globally innovative therapies for Chinese patients.”