Wragge & Co advises Astex acquisition
The Birmingham office of law firm Wragge & Co has advised Astex Therapeutics on its acquisition by NASDAQ-listed SuperGen. The deal, worth £91m, will leave Astex shareholders with a 35 per cent stake in the company.
Wragge & Co’s corporate partner Kevin Jones led the cross-border acquisition, which will provide Cambridge-based Astex with an additional cash sum of $25m on closing.
A further $30m will be paid over a 30-month period from the date of closure. The acquisition is conditional upon regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Astex Therapeutics focuses on small molecule therapeutics to develop new medicines primarily for the treatment of cancer and viral infections.
Jones said: "Having worked with Astex since it launched in 1999 we were well placed to advise on this important deal which supports its future growth and provides liquidity for its shareholders. The deal was highly complex, involving a UK scheme of arrangement and drew on our wide-ranging M&A experience and in-depth life sciences expertise."
Supergen was advised by Taylor Wessing in the UK and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in the US.
