Cephalon bids $205M for Australia's Arana

USA-headquartered biopharmaceutical firm Cephalon, through its  wholly-owned subsidiary, Cephalon International Holdings, intends to  make a takeover offer for Arana Therapeutics, an Australian company that  has a pipeline of biologic compounds for inflammatory diseases and  cancer at various stages of discovery and development. The offer has  the support of the Arana independent directors and will be recommended  to the firm's shareholders in the absence of a superior proposal.

Under the terms of its bid, Cephalon intends to offer A$1.40 cash for  each Arana ordinary share cum dividends and other rights. The total  offer value is approximately A$318.0 million ($205.0 million). The  offer price represents a 70% premium to Arana's 90-day volume weighted  average price and is 69% higher than its closing on February 25, the  last trading day prior to the announcement, said the US group.

If Cephalon obtains a relevant interest in 90% of Arana shares and the  offer conditions are satisfied or waived, it will increase its offer  price by A$0.05 per share. This would be payable to all shareholders no  matter when their acceptances are received. In these circumstances  accepting Arana shareholders will receive A$1.45 per share. Cephalon  intends to fund the offer using a portion of its existing cash balance.