Gilead Sciences completes acquisition of Kite Pharma

On August 28, 2017, Gilead and Kite announced that Kite, Gilead and Purchaser had signed a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which a tender offer would be made. Pursuant to the merger agreement, Gilead and Purchaser commenced a tender offer on September 5, 2017 to acquire all outstanding shares of Kite at a price of $180 per share, net to the seller in cash, without interest.

On October 3, 2017, Gilead announced that it had successfully completed the tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of Kite and had accepted for payment all shares validly tendered and not withdrawn as of the expiration time of the tender offer and would promptly pay for such shares, which shares represented approximately 66.20% of Kite’s outstanding shares (including 2,003,002 shares delivered through Notices of Guaranteed Delivery, representing approximately 3.46% of the shares outstanding).

Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, Purchaser merged with and into Kite on October 3, 2017. All outstanding shares of common stock of Kite, other than (i) shares owned by Gilead, Purchaser or any of their direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, (ii) shares owned by Kite (or held in Kite’s treasury) and (iii) shares held by Kite stockholders who properly demand appraisal for their shares under Delaware law, were canceled and converted into the right to receive cash equal to the $180 price per share.

As a result of the completion of the merger, Kite has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilead and the common stock of Kite will no longer be listed for trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, which is expected to take effect as of the close of market on October 3, 2017.

“We are excited to welcome more than 700 talented Kite employees to the Gilead organization,” said John F. Milligan, PhD, Gilead’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Throughout our respective histories, each company has demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing life-saving therapies for people who need them. I look forward to all that we will accomplish together, as a combined organization.”

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Lazard and Barclays acted as financial advisors to Gilead. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP acted as Gilead’s legal advisors.

Centerview Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Kite. Jeffries LLC and Cowen and Company, LLC also provided advice to Kite. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Cooley LLP acted as Kite’s legal advisors.

Kite is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of innovative cancer immunotherapies with a goal of providing rapid, long-term, durable response and eliminating the burden of chronic care.

 The company is focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T cell receptor (TCR) engineered cell therapies designed to empower the immune system’s ability to recognize and kill tumors.

On March 31, 2017, Kite submitted a Biologics License Application to the FDA for its lead product candidate, axi-cel, as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant.