BRIEF—Bavarian Nordic urges shareholders to accept bid

Danish vaccine biotech Bavarian Nordic on Thursday urged shareholders to accept a sweetened, roughly $3.1 billion buyout bid from a group of private equity firms, but the shareholder acceptances required for a deal to proceed remain well short of the 75% minimum.

In July this year, Bavarian Nordic entered into an agreement to be acquired by a newly formed company controlled by Nordic Capital Fund XI and funds managed and advised by Permira Beteiligungsberatung GmbH, pursuant to which the offeror will make an all-cash recommended voluntary public takeover offer to acquire all issued and outstanding shares (excluding treasury shares) in Bavarian Nordic.

The deal is valued at 19 billion Danish kroner ($3 billion). The offer from Nordic Capital and Permira is priced at DKK 233 kroner per share in cash, representing a 21% premium over Bavarian's closing stock price on July 23, the day rumors of a potential takeover were confirmed.