Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Successful Completion of Cash Tender Offer for Shares of Inhibitex, Inc.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Successful Completion of Cash Tender Offer for Shares of Inhibitex, Inc.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 13, 2012 - Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

(NYSE: BMY) announced today the successful completion of the tender offer by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“Bristol-Myers”) for all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Inhibitex, Inc. (NASDAQ: INHX) (“Inhibitex”) at a purchase price of $26.00 per share. The tender offer expired at midnight, New York City time, on February 10, 2012. As of the expiration of the offer, 77,532,611 shares of common stock of Inhibitex were validly tendered and not withdrawn in the tender offer. All of such shares have been accepted for payment in accordance with the terms of the tender offer. As a result of the tender offer, Bristol-Myers now owns, together with its affiliates, approximately 91% of the outstanding shares of Inhibitex, which will allow Bristol-Myers to complete and close the merger and acquisition of Inhibitex today without stockholder approval. Upon completion of the merger, Inhibitex will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers. All outstanding shares of common stock of Inhibitex, other than shares held by Bristol-Myers or Inhibitex in treasury or shares held by Inhibitex's stockholders who are entitled to and properly exercise appraisal rights under Delaware law, will be canceled and converted into the right to receive cash equal to the $26.00 offer price per share without interest thereon and less any applicable withholding taxes. In addition, upon completion of the merger, the common stock of Inhibitex will cease to be traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please visit www.bms.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.

Bristol-Myers closes on Inhibitex purchase

By LINDA A. JOHNSON
AP Business Writer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said late Monday that it's completed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Inhibitex Inc., a drug developer that Bristol sought as part of its strategy to become a player in the hot hepatitis C drug market.

Earlier Monday, New York-based Bristol-Myers announced it had finished its tender offer for Inhibitex stock, acquiring about 91 percent of the outstanding shares, or just over 77.5 million shares, through midnight Friday. Bristol-Myers paid $26 each for those shares.

About 4.3 million remaining shares were then acquired by Bristol on Monday under a procedure in which they were converted into the right for their holders to receive $26 per share, minus any withholding taxes.

Inhibitex, based in Alpharetta, Ga., is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers.

Bristol-Myers shares rose 9 cents to $31.99 during regular trading Monday, then fell a dime in after-hours trading.

Bristol-Myers is an important maker of medicines for viruses, including Baraclude for hepatitis B and several HIV drugs, but has nothing for hepatitis C at a time when more patients need treatment. Over 3 million Americans have the blood-borne, tough-to-treat disease, which can go undetected for many years until the liver is severely damaged. More people will be diagnosed as the baby boomer generation ages.

After a two-decade drought, the first two new hepatitis C drugs were approved last year: Victrelis from Merck & Co. and Incivek, marketed by partners Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. Both significantly improve the cure rate over what has long been the standard of care - a mix of injections and pills with nasty, flu-like side effects that takes several months and still doesn't cure many patients.

Last month, Bristol-Myers CEO Lamberto Andreotti said his company has four experimental hepatitis C drugs in development that could be a big improvement over the pills-and-shots regimen. The Bristol compounds might also be combined with those of Inhibitex to produce an even more-effective treatment.

Inhibitex has three experimental drugs in midstage human testing, including INX-189, for treating chronic hepatitis C infections. The other two compounds are FV-100, for reducing the pain caused by shingles, and Aurexis, a biologic antibody-based drug for treating dangerous staph infections in the blood.

Inhibitex also has other potential hepatitis C treatments in laboratory testing, and has a proprietary technology that it's licensed to Pfizer Inc. for developing a possible staph vaccine.

Hepatitis C drugs grab spotlight as Bristol-Myers Squibb acquires Inhibitex
BMY’s hepatitis C acquisition.
The announcement that Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYST:BMY) will acquire Inhibitex for $2.5 billion led two companies that are testing experimental hepatitis C drugs to rise in early trading over speculation that they may be acquired, too. Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. both also released positive Phase II trial results today, meeting a milestone on the way to entering a $3 billion market.

Bristol-Myers Squibb announced Friday that it would buy Inhibitex for its Phase II hepatitis C treatment, following in the footsteps of Gilead Sciences, who last year shelled out $11 billion for Pharmasset’s hepatitis C candidates.