A Pfizer logo is displayed on a monitor on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 29, 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Pfizer plans to raise $31 billion through a debt offer to fund the proposed takeover of the cancer drug maker SeenIt would be the largest acquisition since 2009, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Pfizer expects to close its $43 billion acquisition of Seagen later this year or early 2024.
According to a, the bond offering is expected to close on May 19 Prospectus Addendum New York-based Pfizer filed a filing with the SEC late Tuesday.
That would be the pharmaceutical giant’s debt offer largest since CVS health sold $40 billion in bonds in 2018 to fund its acquisition of health insurer Aetna.
Pfizer’s move comes as other companies, including Apple, T Mobile And Merck rush to Tap into the US bond market ahead of a possible rise in borrowing costs triggered by the debt ceiling standoff.
Pfizer’s share price fell slightly on Wednesday.
The company said it will secure funding for the Bothell, Wash.-based Seagen purchase through eight tranches of notes maturing between 2025 and 2063.
Each tranche is valued at $3 billion to $6 billion.
The yield to maturity of the 10-year Pfizer bond would be 4.75%, which would be around 125 basis points higher than that 10-year US government bonds Note.
Signage outside Seagen’s headquarters in Bothell, Wash. on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs And JPMorgan Chase manage the debt sale.
Pfizer agreed in March to buy Seagen for $229 per share in cash.
On Monday, the two companies submitted documents for their proposed merger with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, which is the prelude to a reporting period for the deal.
Investors will likely be watching this high-risk scrutiny closely, especially in light of the lawsuit filed Tuesday by the FTC seeking a lockdown amgen‘s proposed $27.8 billion acquisition Horizon Therapeutics.
The Seagen deal is expected to strengthen Pfizer’s cancer drug portfolio by introducing a class of antibody-drug conjugates, drugs designed to kill cancer cells directly and spare healthy cells.
Seagen has four approved cancer therapies that have had great success Total sales of nearly $2 billion in 2022.
Pfizer has said it expects “risk-adjusted” sales from Seagen to exceed $10 billion in 2030.
Those sales could help offset a continued decline in sales of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine and antiviral pill Paxlovid as the world emerges from the pandemic and becomes less reliant on those products.
