On July 8, Lilly (formally known as Eli Lilly and Company) announced that it acquired Morphic Holding, Inc. for an estimated $3.2 billion. Lilly plans to acquire all outstanding shares of Morphic for $57 per share in cash. The purchase price at closing is a premium of around 79% to the closing stock price on Friday.
Morphic Holding is a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company that is leading the development of new oral integrin drugs for inflammatory bowel diseases. Its proprietary MInT drug discovery platform combines an expert understanding of integrin dynamics and analytical capabilities with foundational structural biology insights and ongoing input from the Massachusetts-based Springer laboratory, the original integrin research leader. According to the original deal press release, as of March 31, 2024, the company had $658.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
Lilly is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Lilly discovers, develops, manufactures and sells pharmaceutical products worldwide. Its products are sold in 125 countries. According to its 2023 FY report, the company generated revenue of $34.1 billion during FY 2023, and had an EBITDA of about $8 billion.
For Lilly, Citibank is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal counsel. For Morphic, Centerview Partners LLC is acting as exclusive financial advisor. Evercore Group L.L.C. also provided advice to Morphic. Fenwick & West LLP is acting as legal counsel to Morphic.
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024. Following the successful closing of the tender offer, Lilly will acquire any shares of Morphic that are not tendered in the tender offer through a second-step merger at the same consideration as paid in the tender offer.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, this acquisition marks the 84th Biotechnology transaction of 2024. The transaction is also Lilly’s second acquisition of 2024; in April, the company purchased Nexus Pharmaceuticals’ manufacturing facility for an undisclosed price.
