Transaction will broaden Sequenom’s cancer diagnostic portfolio.
Sequenom is offering to take over Exact Sciences for approximately $41 million. Under the terms of the proposal, each share of Exact Sciences would be exchanged for $1.50 in Sequenom common stock. The acquisition of Exact Sciences would provide Sequenom with noninvasive stool-based DNA screening technologies for colorectal cancer.
“We believe the proposed transaction would provide Exact Sciences’ shareholders with a very attractive premium to the current stock price with greater liquidity and the opportunity to participate in the future growth of Sequenom,” says Harry Stylli, Ph.D., president and CEO of Sequenom. “Our proposal would also address the uncertainties currently challenging Exact Sciences, including the decline in its stock price, the risk of delisting from The Nasdaq Capital Market, uncertain prospects for continued financing, and significant execution risk.
“Since Exact Sciences’ board is believed to be pursuing alternatives that may not be as attractive as our proposal, we believe it is important to make our proposal and their process transparent to Exact Sciences’ shareholders.”
“Exact Sciences’ novel cancer-screening technology and hypermethylated DNA markers are highly synergistic with Sequenom’s platform and complement our noninvasive diagnostics platform,” continues Dr. Stylli. “Coupled with our Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine laboratory, we are strongly positioned to maximize Exact Sciences’ oncology assets for colorectal cancer screening and potentially expand into noninvasive diagnosis of aerodigestive cancers.”
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