BioNTech SE BNTX announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire China-based biotech, Biotheus, to strengthen its oncology pipeline.

With the acquisition, BNTX will gain full global rights to BNT327/PM8002, an investigational bispecific antibody targeting PD-L1 and VEGF-A, which is currently being developed in mid-to-late-stage studies for various oncological indications.

The transaction is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2025, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Shares of BioNTech were up 4.9% on Nov. 13 following the announcement of the news. The stock has risen 5.6% so far this year against the industry’s decline of 3.8%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

More on BNTX's Latest Deal

We remind investors that in November 2023, Germany-based BioNTech signed an exclusive license and collaboration agreement with Biotheus. The agreement granted BNTX the rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize BNT327/PM8002 worldwide, excluding Greater China.

With the acquisition of Biotheus, BioNTech gets full global rights to the candidate

The latest deal is likely to help BNTX expand its footprint in China, adding a local research and development center for conducting clinical studies.

Per the deal, BioNTech will make an upfront payment of $800 million to acquire all the issued share capital of Biotheus. The payment will be mainly in cash, with a small portion in American depositary shares (“ADS”).

BNTX will also make additional performance-based contingent payments of up to $150 million upon the achievement of certain milestones. Also, more than 300 employees of Biotheus will join BioNTech following the closure of the acquisition.

BNTX's Lucrative Oncology Strategy

The above deal is likely to boost BioNTech’s oncology pipeline by adding BNT327/PM8002 and strengthening its capabilities to develop and commercialize next-generation bispecific antibodies and novel treatment combinations.

BioNTech and Biotheus plan to initiate multiple registrational studies evaluating the combo of BNT327/PM8002 plus chemotherapy targeting various solid tumor indications like small cell lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer later in 2024 and 2025.

Additional clinical studies evaluating BNT327/PM8002 as combination therapies are expected to begin later in 2024 and 2025.

Per the company, if successfully developed, BNT327/PM8002 has the potential to replace current checkpoint inhibitor standard-of-care treatments for various oncology indications.

ROME (Reuters) - Stellantis does not plan to close plants or make mass redundancies in Italy, an executive at the automaker said on Thursday during talks organised by the Italian government to address concerns about the country's car industry.

Industry Minister Adolfo Urso hosted the meeting in Rome with industry representatives and trade unions, as the Italian auto industry grapples with falling output and idle plants, and sales of Stellantis' Italian brands Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia are shrinking.

"Stellantis does not intend to close any plants in Italy, just as it has no intention of making collective redundancies," Italy human resources manager Giuseppe Manca was quoted as saying in a company statement.

Stellantis is facing industry-wide challenges such as low demand for more expensive electric vehicles and competition from China. It is also grappling with bloated U.S. inventories that have led it to cut profit and cash-flow forecasts.

The company is Italy's sole major automaker, but its output there is tanking. Last month the FIM-CISL union predicted Italian annual vehicle production would fall to under 500,000 units this year, the lowest since 1958.

Last week, a trade union source said they expected Stellantis to again pause production at the historic Mirafiori factory in Fiat's hometown of Turin, where the electric Fiat 500 city car and two Maserati sports cars are made.

During the meeting, Urso said the government would soften plans to cut by some 4.6 billion euros ($4.86 billion) the funds set aside to support the country's automotive industry between 2025 and 2030, following wide-spread criticism from unions and business lobbies.

Rome intends to restore some 200 million euros for 2025, Italy's largest trade union CGIl said.

Gianluca Ficco, of the UILM union, said in a statement the government had failed to follow up on proposals to relaunch the auto industry that were agreed in previous meetings.

"In practice, the ministry has stopped talks for almost a year, letting the situation plummet," Ficco said.

($1 = 0.9462 euros)

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Susan Fenton)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) was hit on Thursday with a $6.7 billion lawsuit claiming it cheated former Celgene shareholders by delaying federal approval for three drugs, 1-1/2 months after a federal judge abruptly dismissed an earlier version of the case.

The lawsuit accused Bristol Myers of depriving holders of "contingent value rights" (CVR) an extra $9 per share in cash by dragging its heels in seeking approval of the drugs, including the cancer drug Breyanzi, by specified deadlines. It said Bristol Myers did this to avoid a big payout.

On Sept. 30, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan ruled that the plaintiff UMB Bank had never been properly appointed trustee to represent the CVR holders.

He said this "inexplicable failure" doomed the earlier lawsuit that UMB filed after purportedly replacing a different trustee, and 17 months after Bristol Myers bought Celgene for $80.3 billion.

In Thursday's complaint, UMB said it has addressed the judge's concerns and been confirmed as trustee, entitling it to sue. Bristol Myers' estimated $6.7 billion liability is up from $6.4 billion mentioned in earlier court papers.

Neither Bristol Myers nor its lawyers immediately responded to requests for comment after market hours. UMB's lawyers did not immediately respond to separate requests.

Bristol Myers won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Breyanzi to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on Feb. 5, 2021, five weeks after the relevant deadline for the CVR holders.

The case is UMB Bank NA v Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-08668.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Applied Materials (AMAT) reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ expectations, sending shares lower after the bell Thursday despite a revenue beat.

The semiconductor equipment maker saw revenue grow 5% year-over-year to $7.05 billion, above the analyst consensus from Visible Alpha. However, net income at $1.73 billion or $2.09 per share was down from $2 billion or $2.38 per share a year earlier and fell short of expectations.

Looking ahead, Applied Materials said it anticipates first-quarter revenue of $7.15 billion, plus or minus $400 million, below the analyst consensus at the midpoint. Its projection for earnings per share of $2.29 was above the consensus.

Sales in China Slow

Revenue from China totaled $2.14 billion, 28% lower than a year ago. Last month, analysts warned that Applied Materials and other semiconductor equipment makers could be hit by a slowdown in demand in the country for dynamic random access memory, a key data-storage component used in computers.

Applied Materials shares fell 4% in extended trading. They were up about 15% for the year through Thursday's close.

(Bloomberg) -- US auto stocks and Asian battery makers fell after Reuters reported President-elect Donald Trump plans to eliminate a key consumer tax credit aimed at boosting electric-vehicle adoption.

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Trump’s transition team has been discussing ending the $7,500 subsidy as part of a broader tax-reform effort, Reuters said, citing unidentified sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Representatives of Tesla Inc. also support ending the credit, according to the report.

Repealing the subsidy — a major component of President Joe Biden’s signature climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act — would deal a significant blow to EV adoption in the US, which has already sputtered due to still-high vehicle prices and spotty charging infrastructure. Trump has previously said he would reverse Biden’s EV policies on day one of his presidency.

“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team. “He will deliver.”

Trump would need Congressional approval to repeal the IRA, which was approved on a party-line vote in August 2022. His transition team has determined some of the policies within the law will be difficult to roll back because certain programs have already started allocating money, including to Republican-dominated states, Reuters said.

Shares of Rivian Automotive Inc. were hardest-hit among major EV makers, plunging 14% in New York trading, the biggest drop since Feb. 22. Tesla also hit an intraday low following the report and closed the day down 5.8%. General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. shares declined.

The fallout spread to Asia, with battery maker LG Energy Solution slumping as much as 10% at the open of Seoul trading. LG Energy supplies batteries to automakers including Tesla and GM. SK Innovation Co., the listed parent of battery maker SK On Co., dropped as much as 8%.

“The potential elimination of the federal tax credit for electric vehicles by the Trump administration — without another form of incentive to replace it — could derail the trajectory of EV sales in the United States,” Jessica Caldwell, head of insights for automotive research firm Edmunds.com, said in a note.

• Famed value investor David Einhorn says he's betting on CNH Industrial.

• The stock is trading cheap, but has upside as an agricultural boom mounts, he said.

• Einhorn's Greenlight Capital is also increasing inflation bets after Donald Trump's election.

Famed hedge fund investor David Einhorn isn't one to shy away from market rejects — even if the stock in question was down more than 17% year-to-date as of Wednesday.

The Greenlight Capital founder disclosed that he has built a position in CNH Industrial, a global firm that sells agricultural equipment.

"It's exactly the kind of situation that absolutely nobody cares about right now because it's cheap, and the news over the next period of time probably isn't going to be very good," the billionaire manager said during CNBC's Delivering Alpha conference on Wednesday.

The value stock is part of Einhorn's strategy to snap up overlooked companies in today's expensive market.

"There are things that are truly despised and hated and cheap on an absolute basis that I think makes sense to own," he said.

CNH's stock does appear to be cheap, as company shares have been weighed down by an agricultural down-cycle.

But this period won't last, Einhorn said, anticipating the stock to rally over the medium term.

"This year, the ag equipment universe is probably 20% below its average at the end of the whole recycle. And sometime three or four years from now, it'll probably be 20% above," he said. "Just the nature of how these businesses work."

Though this timeline may disappoint investors looking for a quick profit, Einhorn noted a few reasons to buy the stock now. CNH has little leverage and is actively buying back shares. Given that its an attractive dividend-payer, investors can score a yield of as much as 4%, he said.

CNH jumped after Einhorn's comments, climbing 6.27% to $10.68 per share as of 9:52 a.m. ET on Thursday.

During the conference, the Greenlight manager also cited that his firm has increased bets tied to inflation after Donald Trump's election win last week.

Though Einhorn doesn't expect price growth to rebound toward pandemic-era highs, he cited that the incoming administration appears set on expansionary policies that could push inflation to a 3.5%-4.5% range next year.

Otherwise, Einhorn's leading concern has been the stock market's rising expensiveness. In the hedge fund's quarterly letter published last month, he warned that equities were the most overvalued since the firm's founding in 1996.