Deals of the Week: Is Astex Settling For An Underpriced Buyout?

A new life sciences hedge fund operated by two former associates of activist investor Carl Icahn is challenging Otsuka’s takeover of cancer drug developer Astex. Also, Johnson & Johnson’s London Innovation Center announced four alliances, Celgene took another option on one of its investments and Takeda teamed up with New York research institutions to form a new discovery institute.

A month after Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. agreed to buy cancer drug developer Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $886 million, a top shareholder is challenging the deal. Sarissa Capital Management LP issued an open letter Oct. 2 to announce its opposition to the sale, lamenting a price it found underwhelming, an auction process it found flawed and an executive team whose motivations it believes to be suspect. A separate shareholder class action is pending already, alleging that the deal won’t deliver fair value as proposed.

Sarissa is a life science-focused hedge fund operated by Alex Denner and Richard Mulligan, onetime associates of activist investor Carl...

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