Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S has raised 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) through the sale of bonds to finance the acquisition of American biotech company Akero Therapeutics Inc. This is reported in the Novo Nordisk press release.
Financing applications have more than halved to EUR 7.1 billion from a peak volume of EUR 15 billion due to lower spreads on all Novo Nordisk bonds. The sale of bonds in the amount of 3.4–4 billion euros over six tranches of two to twenty years will finance the acquisition of Akero for $5.2 billion.
From the analysts' point of view, the bonds, which are issued through Novo Nordisk Finance Netherlands, will receive a rating of Aa3 from Moody's and AA from S&P.
BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, SEB AB and ING Groep NV acted as organizers of the bond placement with the participation of Barclays Plc, Bank of America Corp., Danske Bank A/S, Nordea Bank Abp and HSBC Holdings Plc as joint bookrunners.
The acquisition of Akero is aimed at expanding Novo Nordisk's portfolio of assets in the production of drugs for the treatment of liver diseases associated with obesity.
Akero has developed an experimental treatment for metabolic dysfunction-related steatohepatitis (MASH), which is undergoing late-stage trials in patients with fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver. From Novo Nordisk's point of view, efruxifermin has the potential to be the first treatment for end-stage liver damage associated with obesity, especially in combination with Wegovy. efruxifermin may be available on the market in 2028.
The deal reflects competition in the development and acquisition of anti-obesity drugs. In September, Roche Holding AG entered into an agreement to acquire 89Bio Inc. for $3.5 billion, and GSK Plc bought a potential MASH treatment for up to $2 billion.
Novo Nordisk is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company with manufacturing facilities in nine countries and representative offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by the majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S is the majority shareholder of the company with 28.1% of shares. Novo Nordisk is the largest company in the European Union by market capitalization, worth more than 350 billion euros. The headquarters is located in Bagsvere (a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark).
Akero is an American biotech company developing treatments for metabolic liver diseases. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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