Bristol-Myers Squibb Loses $6 Billion in Value on Celgene Deal…

Happy Monday, readers!

Bristol-Myers Squibb hasn’t exactly had a pristine path to its proposed acquisition of Celgene. Sure, the legacy pharma giant racked up more than 75% of shareholder votes to approve the $74 billion acquisition following a quickly-quashed rebellion from some activist naysayers. But the company hit another hurdle in its Celgene acquisition quest that sent Bristol Myers stock tumbling nearly 7.5%, a $6 billion erasure in market value.

The reason(s)? For one, Bristol-Myers Squibb reported an unfortunate clinical trial result from a late-stage study of its cancer immunotherapy superstar Opdivo in liver cancer. For another—BMS made a somewhat surprising announcement that it would spin off Celgene’s blockbuster psoriasis and arthritis drug Otezla, slated to rake in nearly $2 billion in sales this year alone, in order to address Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust concerns over the M&A.

That means the Bristol-Myers Celgene deal may not close until early 2020, rather than the originally expected timeline by the end of this year.

“Bristol-Myers Squibb reaffirms the significant value creation opportunity of the acquisition of Celgene,” the firm said in a statement. “Together with $2.5 billion of cost synergies, a compelling pipeline and a strong portfolio of marketed products, the company continues to expect growth in sales and earnings through 2025.”

Investors can be a fickle bunch. For now, though, they don’t seem particularly pleased at the decision to lop off one of Celgene’s tried and true cash cows.

Read on for the day’s news.

Sy Mukherjee

@the_sy_guy

[email protected]

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