$AEGR seems to have found a bottom and movin up o
Post# of 22757
oops it has news
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to merge with a subsidiary of QLT Inc. for about $43.4 million in equity, the drug developers said Wednesday.
Each Aegerion share will be exchanged for 1.0256 shares of QLT, an 11% premium based on Tuesday's closing prices. After the tie-up, Vancouver -based QLT will change its name to Novelion Therapeutics Inc. , and shares will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and the Toronto Stock Exchange .
Aegerion Chief Executive Mary Szela will lead the combined company.
A "broad-based investor syndicate" of new investors and existing shareholders of both companies has committed to invest about $22 million in QLT and to vote in favor of the deal, which is expected to boost Novelion's cash balance to an unrestricted $100 million .
The merger is expected to create "a strong, rare disease-focused global biopharmaceutical company with a diversified portfolio" including Aegerion's two commercially branded products, Juxtapid capsules and Myalept, and QLT's orphan- designated drug being developed for the treatment of inherited retinal disease.
The transaction is expected to close late in the third quarter or during the fourth quarter.
Shares of Aegerion--which had tumbled from $16 in November to Tuesday's finish of $1.33 --shot up 47% Wednesday morning to $1.96 . Shares of QLT--which had fallen 52% this year--added 16% to $2.14 .
Write to Anne Steele at anne.steele@wsj.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-15-16 0953ET
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