Samsung preparing to buy American biotech company Biogen for $ 40 billion

Samsung, one of the world’s largest consumer electronics and semiconductor companies, is in talks to buy American biotech company Biogen for more than $ 40 billion (about Rs 2,98,170 crore). Biogen’s stock gained a lot on Wednesday after this report surfaced. Biogen, which makes Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, has a strong portfolio of neurology drugs.

Korea Economic Daily की Report According to Biogen, Samsung has been approached for a deal worth about $ 42 billion (about Rs 3,13,292 crore). The report quoted sources in investment banking as saying that Biogen’s revenues are stable compared to volatility in revenue in the semiconductors segment, which gives Samsung high profits. The stock of Biogen had gained about 9.5 percent on Wednesday and went up to $258.31 (about Rs 19,200). A Biogen spokeswoman declined to comment about the report. Biogen was started in 1978 by a team that included Nobel laureates Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp. Apart from Alzheimer’s medicine, the company also gets good revenue from drugs used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Biogen’s revenue last year was $ 13.4 billion (about Rs 99,986.11 crore). It has around 9,100 employees. The company’s stock has declined nearly 50 per cent since its June peak after doubts were raised about Aduhelm’s efficiency. Biogen recently announced a price cut of the drug by almost half. Samsung is popular worldwide for its electronics division. The operating profit of this division of the company grew by about 28 per cent in the recent quarter. Biogen and Samsung already have a joint venture in the development, manufacturing and marketing of biosimilars.

Production at Samsung’s chip manufacturing factory in China has decreased due to the lockdown imposed in China due to the increase in Corona cases. It is Samsung’s only memory chip factory outside South Korea and has been operating since 2014. About 40 percent of the company’s NAND flash chips are made here. The lockdown has not affected Samsung’s SDI electric vehicle battery factory in China itself.