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Shares of Amag Pharmaceuticals climbed 45.2% on Thursday after the company approved a takeover bid by Covis Pharma. The transaction is expected to be completed in November this year.Covis will pay $13.75 in cash for each outstanding shares of Amag Pharmaceuticals (AMAG), representing a premium of 46% from the stock's closing price of $9.40 on Sept. 30. According to Amag, the deal is valued at “approximately $498 million on a fully diluted basis and approximately $647 million on an enterprise basis, including debt obligations expected to be assumed or repaid net of cash.”Covis CEO Michael Porter said, “AMAG’s category leading treatments are strong strategic complements to our existing therapeutic portfolio. Through this combination, we believe we will be able to unlock value for all of our stakeholders, employees and patients through the effective and efficient management of these products, coupled with our two companies’ longstanding commitment to expanding patient access to...
Ligand Pharmaceuticals announced that it has completed the acquisition of Pfenex Inc. for $437.5 million in cash. The biopharmaceutical company said that it would make a “contingent payment of $78 million in cash if a certain specified milestone is achieved.” The deal was announced in August this year. Ligand shares closed 3.02% higher on Thursday.Ligand (LGND) expects the Pfenex deal to boost royalties by 50% annually and to contribute $60 million of total revenue in 2023.“The acquired protein expression technology platform [Pfenex] is utilized to develop next-generation and novel protein therapeutics to improve existing therapies and create new therapies for biological targets linked to critical, unmet diseases,” the company said in a statement.Ligand’s CEO John Higgins said that the “business is well established with an attractive growth outlook that is expected to add significantly to Ligand’s financial growth and performance." (See LGND stock analysis on TipRanks).On Sept. 29, Roth Capital analyst Scott...
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, disclosed that its third-quarter earnings could fall well below analyst estimates, primarily due to the pandemic effect.The company estimates earnings for the quarter to be anywhere between a loss of 68 cents and a profit of 7 cents. This is significantly lower than the average analyst consensus of 7 cents loss, according to the Refinitv data reported by Reuters.Exxon is expected to announce the Q3 earnings results on Oct. 30.What Happened: Exxon expects the change in oil and gas prices, refining margins, and changes in sales volumes to drive down its earnings per share in the third quarter of 2020. A rise in crude prices could enhance earnings between $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion, whereas a fall in gas prices could negatively impact earnings by $500 million, as per the management forecasts.The adverse impact...
(Bloomberg) -- Investors are warning against higher volatility and a potentially deeper selloff in risk assets after the news of President Donald Trump and the First Lady testing positive for Covid-19 shattered the calm in global markets Friday.U.S. equity futures slumped as much as 2% and Asian stocks also declined following the announcement. The dollar and the yen climbed as the news stoked risk aversion. VIX October futures jumped almost 12%.“Markets hate uncertainty and this ticks all those boxes,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific with Oanda Corp. “Not because of the President alone, but because this potentially means it has spread to the upper-level echelons of the government in the U.S.”This is what other investors are saying:10% Correction“This will induce nervousness in the markets and we could see a 10% correction in U.S. equities that will likely drag down Asian equities for the balance of the year,”...
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s factory near Berlin faces no major hurdles before getting the final green light to start producing electric cars next year, according to the premier of the state where it’s being built.Public hearings into the plant east of Berlin in the state of Brandenburg were set to continue on Friday, dragging the process on for two weeks instead of two days. Environmental activists and local residents have grilled authorities on hundreds of issues from deforestation and water usage to increased truck traffic and noise pollution.Despite the drawn-out process, Brandenburg Premier Dietmar Woidke isn’t concerned and expects the project to progress as planned.“As of now, I know of no problem that would stand in the way of the construction permit,” Woidke told Bloomberg News at the state government’s headquarters in Potsdam. “My assumption is that a legally sound permission is possible here.”The plant, Tesla’s first in Europe, is slated...
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. and European equity futures fell with Asian stocks and the dollar climbed after President Donald Trump said he had tested positive for the coronavirus.Trump said that both he and the First Lady Melania Trump tested positive and that they will now quarantine themselves. They were tested after Hope Hicks, one of his closest aides, returned a positive result for Covid-19. The yen and Treasuries, often seen as havens in times of market stress, rose. Nasdaq 100 futures were about 2% lower and crude oil extended losses. Contracts on the Cboe Volatility Index surged about 10%.“This is a big shock -- these are completely exogenous events,” David Page, head of macroeconomics at AXA Investment Managers, said on Bloomberg TV. “It’s quite natural to see a bit of risk off.”S&P 500 contracts had seen mild weakness earlier after the House of Representatives passed a $2.2 trillion Democrat-only fiscal stimulus package...
(Bloomberg) -- Oil was caught up in a broad downward move in financial markets after President Donald Trump said he had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.Futures in New York fell toward $37 a barrel Friday after slumping 3.7% on Thursday. The U.S. president announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19, shortly after one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, had fallen ill with the coronavirus. Asian stocks fell, as did European and U.S. equity futures, while the dollar swung wildly.Trump’s positive result will likely sharpen already intense public attention on his handling of the pandemic as he campaigns for re-election against Democrat Joe Biden, who leads in national polls. Oil was already lower before the announcement as the chance of any more U.S. fiscal stimulus before the November election appeared to be fading after talks yielded no immediate breakthrough.“Trump and the coronavirus news, along...
