Baker & McKenzie advised the owners of Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG ("Ganymed"), a pharmaceutical company based in Mainz, in the sale to Japanese Astellas Pharma, Inc. ("Astellas").
Astellas takes over Ganymed for 422 million euros. The majority shareholder of Ganymed is the ATS Beteiligungsverwaltung, the other shareholders are MIG funds, Future Capital AG, FCPB Gany GmbH and private investors. The purchase price could increase to more than 1.2 billion euros through additional performance-based milestone payments of up to 860 million euros.
The transaction is subject to the usual approval procedure and is expected to close in the coming weeks.
"Accompanying Ganymed in all IP-related legal issues in this major transaction, was an exciting project. For a successful research company such as Ganymed, patent related issues are of particular importance," comments Dr. Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort, IP partner in Munich.
Founded in 2001, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG is a biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of
immunotherapeutic cancer drugs called Ideal Monoclonal Antibodies (IMABs).
Astellas Pharma Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, is a company dedicated to improving the health of people
around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. As a Nikkei listed company, Astellas Pharma is one of the three largest Japanese pharmaceutical companies with a yearly revenue of 8.5 billion euros.
Baker & McKenzie regularly advises on transactions and restructuring, including the IP law matters, most recently OSRAM Licht AG's sale of the general lighting business under the name of Ledvance, Allegion on acquiring Trelock, Magna on acquiring Telemotive, HITACHI Koki on the purchase of Metabo AG, ZF Friedrichshafen AG on the acquisition of the industrial and wind gear business of Bosch Rexroth AG, Group Le Duff on the acquisition of Kamps and Telefónica / e-Plus on selling yourfone to Drillisch.
Legal advisor to Ganymed:
Baker & McKenzie
Lead: IP: Dr. Constanze Ulmer-Eilfort (partner, Munich)
Team: IP: Fabian Böttger, LL.M. (senior associate, Munich)
