Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised all shareholders of Ogeda SA on the sale of all their shares to Astellas Pharma Inc., a listed Japanese pharmaceutical company.

The share purchase agreement was signed in Brussels on March 31, 2017. The closing took place on May 16, 2017 following approval by the US antitrust authority.

"This long and very complex transaction raised multiple legal challenges that demonstrate the Firm's outstanding capability to act both on a cross-jurisdictional and a cross-practice basis," said Brussels-based White & Case partner Muriel Alhadeff, who co-led the Firm's deal team."

Ogeda is a Belgian clinical-stage drug discovery company that has developed an investigational new drug candidate, Fezolinetant, which has shown promising results for the non-hormonal treatment of hot-flushes in menopausal women.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was co-led by partners Thierry Bosly and Muriel Alhadeff (both Brussels), and included partners Pontus Lindfelt (Brussels) and Rebecca Farrington (Washington, DC), local partner Hadrien Servais (Brussels) and associates Tom Matthijs, Thomas Glauden, Aurélie Terlinden (all Brussels), Franck Lupinacci and Daniel Rosenthal (both Washington, DC).