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Simcere receives buyout offer from founder, ex CEO
Published: 01:59:59 PM, Mon 11 March 2013 UTC
Shares of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group jumped Monday after the Chinese drug developer said it received a buyout offer from its founder and chairman.
Simcere said Jinsheng Ren has organized a buyer group that includes a company he controls, New Good Management Ltd., and Assure Ahead Investments Ltd. to acquire all outstanding shares of Simcere that the group does not currently own for $9.56 per American Depositary Share. That represents a premium of 20 percent to the stock's closing price Friday of $7.96.
Simcere makes and sells pharmaceuticals in China, and focuses on the treatment of diseases that have high incidence or mortality rates like cancer, strokes or cardiovascular diseases.
The company said it formed a special committee of independent directors to consider the offer, and no decisions have been made. A brief statement from the company does not state the total value of the offer.
Ren founded the company in 1995 and had served as Simcere's CEO until last fall, when the company named Hongquan Liu to replace him.
Company shares climbed to $1.11, or 13.9 percent, to $9.11 per ADS in morning trading Monday. That was near the upper end of their 52-week range of $7.25 to $9.47.
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