There are a few angles through which to view Tuesday’s acquisition of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, but let’s start positively.
A buyout deal is happening in biotech, which is struggling mightily right now. Granted, this takeout is not a blockbuster — Regeneron is paying $250 million in cash to acquire Checkmate — but any deal at this point should help boost sentiment in a sector that has been abandoned by investors in 2022.
Optically, the purchase premium looks impressive. Checkmate is being acquired for $10.50 per share, or more than four times Monday’s closing price of $2.43. Regeneron isn’t a charity, so it’s not paying a super-premium just to be nice. This suggests that the biotech bear market, as painful as it is, has probably depressed valuations for certain companies far below fair value.
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