Aerie set to be bought by Alcon for $770 million
New Jersey-based biotech firm Aerie is seeing its shares move higher amid news of it being bought by Aerie Pharmaceuticals.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
RACHELLE AKUFFO: First up, New Jersey-based biotech firm, Aerie, really enjoying some major gains there, as you can see. They're up more than 36%. Now this comes as the glaucoma drug maker is being bought by Swiss biotech firm, Alcon, in a $770 million deal, valuing it at $15.25 a share. Now that's a 180% premium over Aerie's pre-earnings stock price.
Now both boards of directors have given the green light and the deal is expected to close in Q4. But this is just the latest in a buying spree in the broader biotech space. Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen, and Pfizer have also recently completed or announced buyouts as well.
Now Aerie is up 115% year-to-date. But just a grain of salt here, the company did have two key optical treatments that were once considered future blockbusters, but they ended up underperforming. So one to keep an eye on, no pun intended.
SEANA SMITH: Yeah, Rachelle, this is also part of the reason you mentioned the fact that they did fall a little bit short there. That has why that name has been brought up in potential M&A talk. So I think largely we were expecting probably Aerie might strike a deal with someone. You mentioned the premium from the earnings. That's the 37% premium to where this stock closed yesterday.
In terms of Alcon. Of course, this does expand its product line and makes it more competitive with some of those other bigger players out there. So certainly could be a good move here for the company. As you mentioned, a lot of M&A in the pharmaceutical space.
