Acambis recommends £276m French bid

Sat 26 Jul 2008
LONDON (ShareCast) - Smallpox vaccine developer Acambis (LSE: ACM.L - news) has agreed a £276m cash offer from French drugs giant Sanofi Pasteur.

Acambis shareholders will get 190p a share, 65% more than yesterday's closing price of 115p. They haven't been that high for well over two years.

"Sanofi Pasteur, which is one of the world's largest vaccines companies, will benefit strategically not only from Acambis' pipeline and technologies, but also from its significant US-based R&D and manufacturing infrastructure," said Acambis chairman Peter Fellner.

In April, the company won a $425m (£212m) ten-year deal to supply the US government with its ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine.

It also raised £40m net of expenses via a placing at 115p a share and an open offer.

Source: http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/080725/214/i3swr.html