Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) expressed plans of acquiring Prevail Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PRVL) on Tuesday for £770 million – a move that it says will help it expand its footprint in gene therapy. Lilly announced a 15% increase in quarterly dividend earlier this week.
Lilly’s shares jumped roughly 1% in premarket trading on Tuesday. The stock continued the rally on market open and gained a little under 4%. On a year-to-date basis, the American pharmaceutical company is now close to 25% up in the stock market. At the time of writing, Lilly is valued at £118 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 27.13.
Lilly forecasts up to £20.85 billion of revenue in fiscal 2021
Lilly also said on Tuesday that it expects its revenue in fiscal 2021 to fall in the range of £19.73 billion and £20.85 billion, including up to £1.49 billion of sales attributed to its COVID-19 treatments. According to Refinitiv, experts, on the other hand, are calling for a lower £19.71 billion of sales for the pharmaceutical company in 2021.
In a report published in the last week of October, Lilly said its net income contracted to £920 million in the fiscal third quarter.
The Indianapolis-based company wants to buy Prevail for £16.76 per share that represents a premium of 80% on the price at which Prevail Therapeutics closed the regular session in the stock market on Monday. Founded in 2017, the Nasdaq-listed company develops gene therapies as a potential treatment for dementia, Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Prevail Therapeutics jumped 91% in premarket trading
The deal between the two healthcare companies also includes £2.98 per share of “contingent
