Roche has completed its $4.3-billion acquisition of Spark Therapeutics, a Philadelphia-based gene-therapy company. The completion follows the receipt of regulatory approval from all government authorities, including the US Federal Trade Commission, required by the merger agreement.

Following the closing, Spark Therapeutics will operate as subsidiary of Roche and continue to operate as an independent company within the Roche Group. 

In acquiring Spark, Roche acquired 60.4% of the total number of shares of Spark’s common stock outstanding or 23,276,342 shares at $114.50 per share in cash through a Roche subsidiary. No further vote or meeting of Spark’s shareholders was conducted to complete the closing. The tender offer ended on December 16, 2019 and was not further extended. In the merger, all shares of Spark not owned by Spark, Roche or Roche’s wholly owned subsidiaries (other than shares as to which appraisal rights have been validly exercised under Delaware law) will be converted into the right to receive the same cash consideration per share, less any applicable withholding taxes, as was paid in the tender offer.

With the acquisition of Spark, Roche gains a commercial gene therapy, Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), a one-time gene-therapy product indicated for treating biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated retinal dystrophy, a rare form of inherited vision loss, as well as a gene-therapy manufacturing facility.

Source: Roche (Completes Acquisition) and Roche (Completes Tender Offer)