Tobira chairman’s dinner with Brent: Industry chat led to a 3-month pursuit and a stunning $1.7B deal
It started with dinner last summer in New York.
Allergan CEO Brent Saunders broke bread with Tobira Chairman Dennis Podlesak and a board member, Domain’s Eckard Weber on June 21. Sometime before the dessert cart rolled, the conversation turned from various industry topics to Tobira’s lead drug.
It ended a few days ago, after Saunders was repeatedly prodded to keep upping an offer to buy the company, starting at $310 million in cash and $740 million in contingent value rights. And even though the lead NASH drug subsequently failed a key study, Saunders eventually jumped into a bidding war for Tobira, agreeing to pay a jaw-dropping premium to bag the biotech for $595 million and a CVR package worth $1.1 billion.
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