DLA Piper is providing legal counsel to Calliditas Therapeutics AB (Calliditas), a biopharmaceutical company based in Sweden, in relation to the recent tender offer made by Asahi Kasei Corporation (Asahi), a conglomerate from Japan. Asahi has offered to acquire all of Calliditas' outstanding shares and American Depositary Shares (ADSs) for a total of US$1.1 billion. Calliditas' shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, while its ADSs are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Calliditas is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that has already commercialized its first product, TARPEYO®, in the US for the treatment of patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a renal disease. The company has licensed this product to partners in the EU, Japan, China, and Singapore, where it is currently being developed and marketed.
Calliditas is also working on the development of setanaxib, a NOX inhibitor, for the treatment of various diseases, including head and neck cancer, alport syndrome, primary biliary cholangitis, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Asahi expects that this business combination will help accelerate its transformation into a global specialty pharmaceutical business.
Josh Kaufman (NY/Miami), Co-Chair of DLA's Capital Markets and Public Companies Advisory Practice, is leading the deal team alongside partners Sanjay Shirodkar (DC) and Jonathan Klein (New York). Kaufman highlighted DLA Piper's cross-border capabilities, extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, and strong global M&A practice as reasons why Calliditas chose to work with them.
“Companies turn to us for our cross-border capabilities. We are pleased to be advising Calliditas based on our deep biopharmaceutical industry experience, our leading global M&A practice and our ability to seamlessly execute across three continents,” said Josh Kaufman (NY/Miami), Co-Chair of DLA’s Capital Markets and Public Companies Advisory Practice
The DLA Piper team also includes partners Rita Patel and Keith Ranta (both in Washington, DC), Jamie Knox and Paolo Morante (both in New York), Semin O (Frankfurt), and Ting Xiao (Shanghai), as well as associates Jenna Fontenot (Miami), Alex Carlson (Los Angeles), and Myriem Bennani (Chicago).
Published by: www.lawyer-monthly.com
