Samsung Biologics secures 87.9% stake in PolyPeptide Group, clearing tender offer threshold

Samsung Biologics has secured an 87.88 percent stake in PolyPeptide Group, a global peptide contract development and manufacturing organization, through a tender offer, meeting the minimum threshold required to complete the acquisition.

Samsung Biologics announced Tuesday the preliminary interim results of the tender offer for PolyPeptide Group shares, which ran from Sept. 15 through Monday.

The tender offer was conducted through Samsung Peptide, a special purpose company subsidiary established for the acquisition. It targeted all issued shares excluding treasury stock — 33,016,411 shares in total — at 44.31 Swiss francs per share.

Preliminary results show that 29,014,418 shares were tendered, including the entire stake of 18,375,000 shares held by existing majority shareholder Draupnir Holding. The tendered shares represent 87.88 percent of the shares subject to the offer, exceeding the minimum acceptance condition of 66.7 percent, and 87.59 percent of all issued shares. Final interim results, verified by an independent auditor, will be disclosed Friday.

Samsung Biologics plans to hold an additional acceptance period from Monday through Oct. 30, after which it will seek regulatory approvals from authorities in Europe, India, Australia, Brazil and other relevant jurisdictions. The company intends to complete payment within 10 trading days thereafter and finalize the acquisition by the end of next month. The total acquisition value amounts to 1.46 billion Swiss francs (about 2.7 trillion won), the largest deal in the history of South Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

The acquisition will allow Samsung Biologics to expand its portfolio beyond antibody drugs, messenger RNA and antibody-drug conjugates into peptides, a fast-growing category of active ingredients central to diabetes and obesity treatments.

Peptides have drawn growing attention in the global pharmaceutical and biotech market as key ingredients in diabetes and obesity drugs. Analyses by global investment banks project the global obesity drug market could grow to as much as $150 billion by around 2035, driven by surging demand and expanding treatment indications — a trend expected to lift demand for peptide-based therapies along with it.

Industry observers say the acquisition marks a pivotal shift for Samsung Biologics, whose business had been concentrated in large-molecule antibody drugs, toward becoming a comprehensive global CDMO spanning high-growth modalities.

Samsung Biologics said it plans to "combine the large-scale manufacturing facility design and operational expertise we have built up with PolyPeptide Group's peptide development and production technology to maximize business synergies, while also reviewing capacity expansion to keep pace with future growth in the peptide market and respond to customer demand in a timely manner."