CymaBay Therapeutics: $31.17
Market Cap: $3.69 billion
When Gilead Sciences (GILD) announced its all cash acquisition of CymaBay (CBAY) last week for $32.50 per share in cash, it wasn’t as much the $3.26 billion price tag or the 36% premium it paid for the company that stood out. It was the expected closing indicated, which according to the press release was “the first quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.”
This 49 day or earlier expected close is less than half the time it takes for most deals to close. It is so short, that I doubled checked to make sure that Gilead or CymaBay were not indicating a fiscal quarter that was different from the calendar quarter. Looking at the financial statements for both companies that was not the case.
CymaBay Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Newark, California. The company primarily focuses on innovative therapies for treating patients with liver and other chronic diseases. On February 12, 2024, CymaBay announced that the U.S. FDA has agreed to review its New Drug Application (NDA) for seladelpar. This is a treatment for managing primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a chronic liver disease characterized by the progressive destruction of the bile ducts within the liver.