Following last week’s report of the bidding war between British tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) and US private equity firm The Carlyle Group, the board of directors at Vectura has said in a statement that it considers the PMI offer to be “fair and reasonable”, and planned to unanimously recommend the $1.5bn bid to shareholders.
UK-based Vectura is developing inhaled drug delivery solutions for a number of diseases, including COVID-19.
“The Vectura directors recognise the superior cash price the final PMI offer provides Vectura shareholders,” the board wrote in a statement published on 12 August, according to Sky News.
“The Vectura directors also note that wider stakeholders could benefit from PMI’s significant financial resources and its intentions to increase research and development investment and to operate Vectura as an autonomous business unit that will form the backbone of its inhaled therapeutics business.”
Last week, PMI upped its offer to 165 pence per share, beating the 155 pence per share offer from The Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group refused to improve on its final offer of $1.3bn.
The PMI offer is part of the tobacco firm’s push to move away from its core tobacco business.
“PMI’s Beyond Nicotine strategy, announced in February, articulates a clear ambition to leverage our expertise in inhalation and aerosolisation into adjacent areas – including respiratory drug delivery and selfcare wellness – with a goal to reach at least USD 1 billion in net revenues by 2025,” said Jacek Olczak (pictured above), chief executive officer of PMI.
In line with this, PMI acquired OtiTopic, a respiratory drug development company developing an inhaled drug for heart attacks, on 9 August for an undisclosed sum.
PMI’s move to buy Vectura prompted criticism from medical research charities and anti-smoking groups, with Kwasi Kwarteng, UK business secretary, reportedly asking officials to monitor the deal to ‘better understand’ PMI’s plans for Vectura.
A group of representatives from more than 20 anti-smoking and lung health organisations wrote an open letter to Vectura’s board on 12 August.
“Tobacco companies should not profit from the illnesses their products cause,” the representatives maintained. “In addition, we believe Vectura’s future commercial viability as a company dedicated to improving respiratory health would be seriously jeopardised should the PMI takeover proceed.”