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This is why we have seen less activity," said Dirk Albersmeier, co-head of global M&A at JPMorgan. In the fourth quarter, there has been a 56% contraction in global M&A to $641.2 billion, partly caused by a 66% drop in private equity activity. Top rainmakers expect a pickup in cross-border M&A activity. Going forward, private equity funds are expected to kickstart the recovery as they seek assets at a discount. We were probably more optimistic a year ago," said David DeNunzio, global head of M&A at Wells Fargo.

☆ Big Pharma will find right formula for M&A binge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Aimee Donnellan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The year 2022 was relatively thin for pharma M&A, with deals worth nearly $66 billion being announced by early December – 60% below the 9-year average, according to Refinitiv data; 2023 will be better. It helps that drug companies are relatively healthy, with debt around just 1.6 times forecast EBITDA in 2023, according to Berenberg analysts. Seagen (SGEN.O), for example, worth $22 billion in early December, has fought off Merck & Co (MRK.N). That puts Big Pharma in an ideal negotiating position. CONTEXT NEWSGlobal pharmaceutical companies spent nearly $66 billion on takeovers in 2022, according to data from Refinitiv as of Dec. 7.

Amgen gains several approved drugs through the deal, a bulwark against rising competition for its blockbuster arthritis drug, Enbrel, from newer treatments. Sales of Amgen's Enbrel tumbled 14% in the latest reported quarter to $1.1 billion, extending a run of downbeat performances. The Horizon bid follows Amgen's $3.7 billion deal in August for rare blood vessel inflammation treatment maker ChemoCentryx Inc . The offer values Horizon at $27.8 billion on a fully diluted basis, according to the company, which includes ordinary shares to be vested. Based on Reuters calculations, it values Horizon at about $26 billion and gives Horizon a $28.3 billion valuation, including debt.

[1/2] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 7, 2022. Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) rose 2% following the tech giant's deal to buy a 4% stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG.L), powering much of Wall Street's gains. The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) looked to rebound from its worst weekly performance since late September, sparked by dour comments from top U.S. executives and mixed economic data. Fears of an economic downturn have hammered Wall Street's main indexes this year, with the Nasdaq (.IXIC) and the S&P 500 down 29.4% and 17%, respectively. Eight out of the 11 major S&P sector indexes were in the green, led by energy (.SPNY), utilities (.SPLRCU) and technology stocks (.SPLRCT).

[1/2] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 7, 2022. Wall Street's main indexes have slumped this year on fears of aggressive rate hikes triggering a U.S. recession. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 (.SPX) have fallen 29.5% and 17.2%, respectively, so far in 2022 and are on track for their worst yearly performance since 2008. Seven out of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes were in the green, led by energy (.SPNY) and technology stocks (.SPLRCT). The S&P index recorded no new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 29 new highs and 136 new lows.

Wall Street's main indexes have slumped this year on fears of aggressive rate hikes triggering a U.S. recession. ET, Dow e-minis were up 81 points, or 0.24%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 12.75 points, or 0.32%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 34.25 points, or 0.3%. Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) lost 2.7% after Wells Fargo downgraded its rating on the smartphone chipmaker's stock to "underweight" from "equal weight". Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) lost 1.2% after the company paused its partnership discussions with Mercedes-Benz Vans on electric van production in Europe. Reporting by Shubham Batra, Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Futures rise ahead of CPI data, Fed rate decision in focus
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummarySummary Companies Futures up: Dow 0.22%, S&P 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.34%Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday ahead of monthly consumer inflation data, while investors braced for the Federal Reserve meeting later this week. The Nasdaq (.IXIC) shed 4%, and S&P 500 (.SPX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) lost 3.4% and 2.8%, respectively. ET, Dow e-minis were up 73 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 11.25 points, or 0.29%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 39.25 points, or 0.34%. Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) tumbled 4.3% after the company paused its partnership discussions with Mercedes-Benz Vans on electric van production in Europe. Reporting by Shubham Batra and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amgen to buy Horizon Therapeutics for $26.40 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) will buy rare disease drugmaker Horizon Therapeutics Plc (HZNP.O) for $26.40 billion, it said on Monday, in its biggest deal ever that gives the biotech company access to blockbuster thyroid eye disease treatment Tepezza. The offer values Horizon at $27.8 billion on a fully diluted basis, according to the company, which includes ordinary shares to be vested. Based on Reuters calculations, it values Horizon at $26.40 billion. The offer values Horizon at $28.3 billion, including debt. The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that Amgen was close to acquiring Horizon after the other bidders pulled out of the race.

☆ Amgen set to buy biotech firm Horizon at $26 bln valuation - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) is set to buy biotech firm Horizon Therapeutics Plc (HZNP.O) at a valuation of about $26 billion in what would be its largest acquisition, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. The report comes after French health group Sanofi (SASY.PA) said on Sunday that it no longer intends to make an offer for Horizon. Amgen and Horizon did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comments. Janssen also pulled out of the race last week, saying that it does not intend to make an offer for Horizon. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Sunday that Amgen is in advanced talks to buy Horizon.

☆ Morning Bid: Hunkering down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Initial market enthusiasm over China's easing of its stringent "zero-COVID" measures has now switched to worries over a wave of infections likely disrupting the economy. European stock markets are set for a weaker start on Monday, dragged by declines in Asian stocks, with the spotlight on a series of central bank meetings even as expectations rise that euro zone inflation is peaking. It's a Super Thursday this week, with the ECB, Bank of England, and the Swiss and Norwegian central banks also expected to jack up borrowing costs. On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen forecast a substantial reduction in U.S. inflation in 2023, barring an unexpected shock. Whether inflation is responding to the most aggressive Fed hiking cycle since the 1980s will be evident in this week's U.S. consumer price index report.

☆ Amgen’s $28 bln deal is a reasonable gamble
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Biotechnology deals are always a gamble, and, on the face of it, Amgen’s (AMGN.O) $28 billion purchase of Horizon Therapeutics (HZNP.O) looks both risky and pricey. Investors in the $150 billion drug buyer should give it the benefit of the doubt. Amgen is largely buying Horizon for a drug named Tepezza, which helps a thyroid disease that affects eyesight. Sales in Alexion’s drug this year should be $7 billion, a 16% jump from where they were when AstraZeneca bought it. If Amgen similarly helps Horizon, its deal will look like a reasonable wager.

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the market Monday: CPI then Fed, Big Tech, J&J boost
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Oppenheimer cuts its price target on Apple to $170 per share from $190; but keeps outperform (buy) rating. Separately, Wells Fargo downgrades rating Qualcomm (QCOM), another Club name, to underweight from equal weight (sell from hold). As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: Horizon Therapeutics, Coupa Software, Rivian and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Coupa Software (COUP) – Private-equity firm Thoma Bravo agreed to buy Coupa, a specialist in business spending management software. Accenture (ACN) – Accenture fell 1.7% in the premarket after Piper Sandler downgraded the consulting firm's stock to "underweight" from "neutral." Best Buy (BBY) – The electronics retailer's stock added 1.6% in the premarket after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to "neutral" from "sell." Gap (GPS), Tapestry (TPR), Levi Strauss (LEVI) – Goldman Sachs upgraded Gap and Tapestry to "buy" from "neutral" while downgraded Levi Strauss to "neutral" from "buy." Gap added 2.7% in the premarket, with Tapestry up 2% and Levi Strauss losing 1.2%.

☆ J&J unit says does not intend to bid for Horizon Therapeutics
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) unit Janssen Global Services said on Saturday that it does not intend to make an offer for biotech company Horizon Therapeutics Plc (HZNP.O). Last month, Horizon Therapeutics - which has a market capitalization of about $18 billion - said it was in talks with Amgen Inc (AMGN.O), Sanofi (SASY.PA) and Janssen Global Services, all three of which have been active in deal-making this year. It expects over $4 billion in global annual peak sales for its biggest drug Tepezza, which is used to treat thyroid eye disease. French drugmaker Sanofi (SASY.PA) said on Friday that if it decides to bid for Horizon, it would do so in cash. Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amgen says experimental obesity drug has promising durability
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Deena Beasley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LOS ANGELES, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Amgen Inc's (AMGN.O) experimental obesity drug demonstrated promising durability trends in an early trial, paving the way for a larger mid-stage study early next year, company officials said ahead of a data presentation on Saturday. The small Phase I trial found that patients maintained their weight loss for 70 days after receiving the highest tested dose of the injected drug, currently known as AMG133. Amgen shares have gained about 5% since the company said on Nov. 7 that 12 weeks of trial treatment at the highest monthly dose of AMG133 resulted in mean weight loss of 14.5%. Patients treated with AMG133 did have side effects including nausea and vomiting, but most cases were mild and resolved within a couple of days after the first dose, Amgen said. The drug was developed from work at Amgen to identify genetic signals associated with lower fat mass and body weight, and also healthy metabolic profiles, explained Saptarsi Haldar, head of cardiovascular metabolic discovery at Amgen.

☆ Sanofi says any offer for Horizon Therapeutics, if made, will be in cash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Dominique Vidalon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Dec 2 (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi (SASY.PA) said on Friday that if it decides to bid for biotech company Horizon Therapeutics Plc (HZNP.O), it would do so in cash. Horizon Therapeutics Plc, which has a market capitalization of about $18 billion, is in talks with Amgen Inc (AMGN.O), Sanofi (SASY.PA) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) unit Janssen Global Services over potential takeover offers. "Any offer for Horizon Therapeutics Plc (HZNP.O), if made, would be in cash, as required by Rule 2.12 of the Takeover Rules," Sanofi said in a statement. "There is no certainty that any offer will be made, nor as to terms on which any such offer may be made, if forthcoming," it added. Horizon, which makes drugs for rare, autoimmune and severe inflammatory diseases, has said there is no certainty that it will receive a takeover offer.

Stelara accounted for $9.1 billion of J&J's $52 billion in global drug sales last year. The drug is also approved to treat Crohn's disease, the skin condition psoriasis and a related form of arthritis. However, J&J alleges that Amgen failed to follow the legal process required by that law for the companies to litigate any patent disputes. If Amgen launches its drug, J&J said it would infringe J&J's patent on the drug's active ingredient and on its use for treating ulcerative colitis. J&J said in a statement that Janssen is "confident in its intellectual property and has filed suit to protect its rights."

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☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Hormel, Petco, CrowdStrike and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Earnings beat estimates, but sales came up short of Wall Street forecasts. Petco (WOOF) – Petco's adjusted quarterly earnings of 16 cents per share matched Street forecasts, but revenue was slightly above estimates. CrowdStrike (CRWD) – CrowdStrike plunged 17.6% in the premarket after the cybersecurity company's subscription numbers came in below analyst forecasts. NetApp (NTAP) – NetApp tumbled 10.9% in the premarket on a weaker than expected forecast from the cloud computing company, which reported better than expected quarterly earnings. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) – Hewlett Packard Enterprise added 1.9% in the premarket after the enterprise computing company reported record quarterly sales and issued strong revenue guidance.

☆ Horizon Therapeutics fields buyout interest from Amgen, J&J and Sanofi
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The biotech company, with a market capitalization of about $18 billion, is in talks with Amgen Inc (AMGN.O), Sanofi (SASY.PA) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) unit Janssen Global Services. Amgen acquired ChemoCentryx in a $4 billion deal in October, while J&J earlier this month announced a $16.6 billion bid for Abiomed (ABMD.O). Sanofi earlier this year completed the buyout of immuno-oncology company Amunix Pharmaceuticals for around $1 billion. Amgen declined to comment on the talks, while Sanofi and Janssen Global were not immediately available. Horizon expects over $4 billion in global annual peak sales for its biggest drug Tepezza, which is used to treat thyroid eye disease.

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☆ Mirati attracts fresh takeover interest - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 22 (Reuters) - Mirati Therapeutics Inc (MRTX.O) is attracting fresh takeover interest from large pharmaceutical companies ahead of updates to its drug pipeline, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Larger drugmakers have been considering taking over the company, the report said, although there are currently no formal bids. Mirati has become a more attractive target for companies seeking to expand their cancer treatment offerings since larger rival Seagen Inc. (SGEN.O) opted to stay independent. The cancer drug developer has been weighing strategic options including a potential sale for some time, the report added. Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The main active ingredient in Ozempic is semaglutide, which is also the key ingredient in Novo's obesity drug Wegovy. Several less efficacious obesity drugs from multiple drugmakers have previously been approved, but bungled launches and serious side effects led to tepid sales and even some market withdrawals. Novo faces looming competition from Eli Lilly (LLY.N), whose weekly injection Mounjaro won U.S. approval for type 2 diabetes in May and is under fast-track review as a weight-loss drug. Amgen (AMGN.O) also has an early-stage, once-monthly obesity drug that is being keenly watched. Elon Musk, the world's richest person and now Twitter owner, has offered his own endorsement of the weight-loss benefits of semaglutide on the social media website.

The comments follow a softer-than-expected inflation report last week, which had buoyed hopes that the Fed could scale back its hefty interest rate hikes and helped drive a euphoric market rally. The S&P 500 in the previous session logged its biggest weekly percentage gain in about five months, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC) notched its best week since March. "The market is expecting the Fed to continue its hawkish rhetoric on rates. ET, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was down 17.25 points, or 0.43%, at 3,975.68, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was down 115.13 points, or 1.02%, at 11,208.20. The S&P 500 information technology sector (.SPLRCT) was down 1.2% and among the leading sectoral decliners on the benchmark index.

Nonpartisan forecasters and opinion polls suggested a strong chance of Republicans winning a House majority and a tight race for Senate control. Shares in healthcare, energy and defense sectors could see more volatility in the wake of the election. "A Republican victory is seen as removing either current regulations, like in the energy sector, or potential future regulations like in the pharmaceutical sector." The S&P 500 (.SPX) is up nearly 9% from its recent October lows, but has still posted steep losses this year on worries that aggressive monetary policy tightening would tip the U.S. economy into a recession. Among S&P 500 sectors, energy (.SPNY) and consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) fell the most, down 1% and 0.5%, respectively.

WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a bid by Bristol Myers Squibb Co's Juno Therapeutics Inc to reinstate a $1.2 billion award it won in its patent fight with Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) subsidiary Kite Pharma Inc over a lymphoma drug. The justices turned away Juno's appeal of a lower court's ruling throwing out the award in the litigation over Kite's biologic drug Yescarta, in a case that could have repercussions for the cutting-edge biologic drug industry. Juno and Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research sued Kite in 2017 in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing it of copying technology that the institute licenses to Juno. Juno and Sloan Kettering have told the Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit's decision to invalidate the patent and other rulings against biologic patents have been "devastating for innovation." On Nov. 4, the Supreme Court took up another patent case involving biologic drugs, agreeing to hear Amgen's bid to revive patents on its cholesterol drug Repatha.

The justices took up Amgen's appeal of the lower court ruling that threw out the Repatha patents. Amgen and other drugmakers have called the case a test of their ability to earn and defend patents for important drugs. Amgen first sued Regeneron and Sanofi in 2014 over their rival drug Praluent, which works by a similar mechanism as Repatha. Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen sold more than $1.1 billion worth of Repatha worldwide last year. Regeneron sold $170 million worth of Praluent in the United States last year, and Sanofi sold over $200 million worth in the rest of the world.

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