A three-year ex­per­i­ment comes to an end, as Io­n­is re­ab­sorbs Akcea for $500M

Akcea’s three-year run as a se­mi-in­de­pen­dent com­pa­ny is com­ing to an end.

Io­n­is an­nounced ear­ly Mon­day morn­ing that they will be reac­quir­ing the pub­lic shares of its lipid-fo­cused spin­out Akcea. Akcea be­gan as a ful­ly-owned sub­sidiary be­fore Io­n­is put about a quar­ter of its shares on the pub­lic mar­kets. Now, for about $500 mil­lion — $18.15 per share — Io­n­is will buy that quar­ter back.

The ac­qui­si­tion was a 60% pre­mi­um on Akcea’s stock en­ter­ing Mon­day, al­though it will im­me­di­ate­ly give Io­n­is ac­cess to the $390 mil­lion in cash Akcea had on hand.

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