(Reuters) -Bavarian Nordic, subject of a takeover offer valuing the vaccine maker at about 19 billion Danish crowns ($3 billion), reported a higher than expected revenue for the second quarter on Friday, citing a strong performance in both its travel health and public preparedness businesses.
WHY IT MATTERS
A consortium led by Nordic Capital and Permira said in July it would launch a bid priced at 233 crowns per Bavarian Nordic share, which the Danish group’s board is recommending to its stakeholders.
The vaccine maker’s main shareholder, Danish pension fund ATP, has said it has no intention of accepting the offer. ATP holds a 10% stake in Bavarian according to LSEG data.
KEY QUOTE
“If there are other interested parties, they know where we are,” CEO Paul Chaplin said in an interview. “We’re not actively seeking additional offers, but it is now a public transaction.”
CONTEXT
Bavarian Nordic is a key vaccine supplier to governments globally, including public health preparedness programmes in the United States, where Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been making sweeping changes to vaccine policies.
Chaplin had said in November that Bavarian was not concerned about the vaccine scepticism Donald Trump’s presidency and Kennedy’s appointment would bring into the U.S. health policies, a sentiment he reiterated on Friday.
“We seem to be isolated from a lot of the vaccine scepticism discussions,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS
Bavarian reported quarterly revenue of 1.65 billion Danish crowns, exceeding a company-compiled consensus of 1.46 billion, based on estimates from three analysts.
It now expects full-year revenue of 6.0 billion to 6.6 billion crowns, compared to the previous range of 5.7-6.7 billion, citing the strong travel health business and further clarity on the public preparedness business.
WHAT’S NEXT
Innosera, a company controlled by the consortium, is expected to publish an offer document on Tuesday at the latest. The takeover bid will be successful only if it gains acceptances for more than 90% of all shares.
“It’s really up to the shareholders to decide whether this is an appropriate offer or not,” Chaplin said.
($1 = 6.4376 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Elviira Luoma and Vera Dvorakova in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
