Novartis in $8.7 B Deal with AveXis, Sulzer Takes Step to Trim Russian Stake

Sarla Buch
09 Apr, 2018
New York City

Henkel confirmed fiscal 2018 outlook and said its delivery problems in North America should be solved by the end of June. Novartis agreed to acquire the U.S.-based AveXis for $8.7 billion in cash. Sulzer buys back five million shares from Russia controlled company.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt - Henkel confirmed fiscal 2018 outlook and said its delivery problems in North America should be solved by the end of June. Novartis agreed to acquire the U.S.-based AveXis for $8.7 billion in cash. Sulzer buys back five million shares from Russia controlled company.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index edged down 1.78 to 7,180.39 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 3.76 to 12,237.62.

In Paris, CAC 40 index edged up 5.53 to 5,263.77.

Dermapharm Holding SE jumped 3.8% to €25.18 after Germany-based pharmaceutical products maker said group revenues in the year ending in December advanced 4.9% from a year ago to €467 million and operating profit surged 9.7% to €113 million from €103 million in the same period a year ago.

Henkel AG & Co KGaA slid 0.2% to €107.10 after Germany-based chemical and consumer goods maker’s chief executive officer Hans Van Bylen said logistics difficulties of delivery in consumer-goods businesses problems in North America will be solved in the second-quarter.

Van Bylen forecasted fiscal 2018 operating growth in the range of 2% to 4% despite higher prices of raw materials and packaging costs in the year ahead but operating profit is estimated to jump more than 17.5% and earnings per share to increase between 5% and 8%.

“We very much regret the problems occurred. The causes have been identified and we working on with strong focus. We expect the supply chain situation to normalize in the course of the second quarter,” said Hans Van Bylen.

Novartis AG fell 0.5% to 77.28 Swiss francs after Switzerland-based healthcare products maker agreed to acquire the U.S.-based clinical stage gene therapy maker AveXis, Inc. for $218 per share or about $8.7 billion in cash.

The transaction is expected to close in the mid-2018.

Sulzer AG tumbled 13.3% to 109.50 Swiss francs after Switzerland-based engineering company agreed to buy its own shares from its major shareholder Renova Holdings. The deal is valued 631.5 million francs or $658 million.

Sulzer is hoping that acquiring stocks from a Russia based corporation and citizen will avoid future business interruptions that may result from the latest U.S. sanctions.

U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control placed V. Vekselberg, a Russian citizen and the company Renova Group based in Moscow as specially designated nationals pursuant to U.S. sanctions rules effective from April 6 to minimize disruptions to Sulzer’s business.

Sulzer will buy approx five-million shares from Renova Holdings and after the completion of the deal, Renova stake in Sulzer will be lowered to 48.83%.