Transaction Case Studies
RAPID M&A ADVISORY
Situation Assessment
- Anokion Bio is Swiss biotechnology company focused on autoimmune diseases by restoring normal immune tolerance. Anokion’s lead asset ANK-780 is an antigen specific treatment for multiple sclerosis.
- Kanyos Bio was spun out of Anokion in 2015 to support a collaboration with Astellas, with rights to develop assets in type 1 diabetes and celiac disease from Anokion’s platform.
- Kanyos and Astellas mutually agreed to terminate the agreement
- Both companies expressed an interest in merging in order to build a complete portfolio with Kanyos’ assets and continued access to Anokion’s platform
- Kanyos engaged Locust Walk as its exclusive valuation and strategic advisor to ensure terms of the potential merger gave fair value to current investors
- Locust Walk performed a robust relative valuation analysis of both companies, concluding that the proposed merger terms were in a reasonable fair value range
Key Activities
- Worked with senior management team to define goalposts for deal terms that align with company goals and could ensure deal success
- Developed in-depth comparable deals analysis to fairly value both companies and guide term negotiations
- Conducted thorough diligence based on comparable transactions and discussed valuation model inputs to come to agreement on relative value of both companies
- Locust Walk provided guidance on the fairness of the transaction and the relative value to Kanyos
Successful Outcome
- Anokion successfully completed the merger with Kanyos at the agreed upon deal terms
- Anokion successfully completed a $40M Series B financing off the back of the merger
- Locust Walk successfully assessed the terms of the merger and provided a formal opinion within four weeks
