Deal Reporter
Cellectis [EPA:ALCLS] is likely to dispose of any non-performing assets rather than seeking an outright sale, two industry sources familiar with the company said.
Last week Cellectis was reported to have been informally approached by Pfizer [NYSE:PFE] in relation to a potential takeover worth as much as EUR 1.5bn.
However, Cellectis’s attention is focused on monetising its crop science division because it is not performing as expected, the industry sources said. Despite internal restructuring, this asset has been slower to develop than anticipated and would be a non-core disposal candidate, they added.
Cellectis did not return repeated calls requesting comment.
One of the industry sources and an industry banker also questioned the incentive that Pfizer would have for acquiring Cellectis given their partnership announced last June that gives Pfizer access to the French company’s intellectual property. Pfizer also acquired a 9.47% stake in Cellectis.
According to their announcement, Pfizer and Cellectis agreed on a strategic collaboration to develop Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) immunotherapies in the field of oncology directed at select targets on which Pfizer has a right of first refusal. Cellectis received an upfront payment of USD 80m from Pfizer with the potential to receive another USD 185m in milestone payments.
The sources and industry banker questioned why Pfizer would pay a premium on a royalty stream it has access to. M&A only needs to happen in the context of wanting to get certain products, the industry banker commented and pointed to Johnson & Johnson’s [NYSE:JNJ] partnership with Pharmacyclics, under which J&J has retained rights on Pharmacyclics’ lead drug Imbruvica despite AbbVie [NYSE:ABBV] having bought the company for USD 21bn in March this year. Even though Pfizer could potentially pay Cellectis USD 2.1bn over the next 10 years in royalties, it’s better than having to pay USD 2.2bn today for an outright acquisition, the industry banker added.
While Pfizer is known to acquire parties with whom it is partnered, at this stage they would want to see clinical milestones materialise before making a move on Cellectis, the second industry source said. Meanwhile as a shareholder, Pfizer has already gained a significant windfall as Cellectis has gone from a USD 115m market capitalization to USD 1.5bn after it dual-listed on the NASDAQ, the banker said.
Cellectis shares are currently trading at EUR 38.10, giving it a market capitalisation of EUR 1.34bn.