F-star Surges 60% On $161 Mln Acquisition Offer By Chinese Billionaire Family’s Sino Biopharmaceutical

Sino Biopharmaceutical, a China-based pharmaceuticals maker controlled by billionaire Tse Ping and his family, has agreed to buy Nasdaq-listed, UK-headquartered F-star Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceuticals company that is developing drugs to fight cancer, particularly lung cancer and head and neck cancer.

Sino Biopharmaceutical, through its 100% owned invoX subisidiary, would pay $161 million, or $7.12 per share in cash. The transaction needs F-star shareholder approval. F-star’s shares climbed by more than 60% in early trade following the announcement, and stood at $6.37 at 11:06 a.m. EST.

The purchase would advance invoX’s strategy to build Sino Biopharm’s international research and development platform outside of China and its pipeline for cancer drugs. invoX was founded last year.

F-star, whose multinational partners include Merck KGaA, lost $12 million in the first three months of 2022; it had $68 million in cash on March 31, according to a company press release.

Sino Biopharm’s products are used in hepatology, oncology, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, orthopedics, digestive, immune and respiratory diseases.

Tse is a member of the billionaire Dhanin clan from Thailand and the guiding hand behind Hong Kong-listed, Beijing-headquartered Sino Biopharmaceutical.

Tse, who with his family has a fortune worth $5.8 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today, stepped down as chairman of Sino Biopharmaceutical in 2015 and ceded the role to his daughter Theresa.

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@rflannerychina