Genmab to Acquire Merus for $8 Billion
Denmark’s Genmab A/S on Monday said that it will acquire Dutch company Merus, specialised in treatment of cancer in throat and head, in an all-cash transaction that is valued of approximately $8 billion.
The two companies have announced that they have entered into a transaction agreement pursuant to which Genmab will acquire all the shares of Merus, a clinical-stage biotechnology company with its late-stage breakthrough therapy asset petosemtamab, which is in Phase 3 development, for $97 per share.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Genmab will commence a tender offer for 100% of Merus’ common shares, which is anticipated to close by early in the first quarter of 2026.
The proposed acquisition of Merus is expected to meaningfully accelerate Genmab’s shift to a wholly owned model, expanding and diversifying the company’s revenue, driving sustained growth into the next decade and contributing to Genmab’s evolution into a biotechnology leader.
The addition of petosemtamab, Merus’ lead asset, to Genmab’s promising late-stage pipeline is a compelling strategic fit with Genmab’s portfolio and aligns with Genmab’s expertise in antibody therapy development and commercialisation in oncology. Following the closing of the transaction, Genmab will have four proprietary programs expected to drive multiple new drug launches by 2027.
Genmab President and CEO Jan van de Winkel said that the proposed acquisition of Merus clearly aligned with their long-term strategy and has the potential to significantly accelerate their evolution into a global biotechnology leader by providing durable growth for the company well into the next decade.
Merus CEO Bill Lundberg said that the two companies have a rich history of innovation with multiple approvals in the field of multispecific antibodies and Genmab has the right vision and experience to advance petosemtamab in recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer and beyond.
Transaction Details
Under the transaction agreement, Genmab’s wholly owned subsidiary, will commence a tender offer for all the outstanding common shares of Merus. Following the closing of the tender offer, Merus and Genmab will undertake a series of transactions resulting in Genmab owning 100% of the common shares of Merus (or a successor entity).
Depending on the structure of the back-end transactions, Merus shareholders that do not tender their shares into the tender offer will either receive the same consideration for their common shares as the common shares tendered into the tender offer (subject to applicable withholding taxes) or a fair price for their common shares determined by a Dutch court in statutory buy-out proceedings.
The $97 per common share purchase price payable in the tender offer represents a premium of approximately 41% over Merus’ closing stock price on 26 September 2025, of $68.89 and approximately 44% over Merus’ 30-day volume weighted average price of $67.42 per share.
The consideration is expected to be funded through a combination of cash on hand and approximately $5.5 billion of non-convertible debt financing. Genmab has obtained a funding commitment from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. for this amount.
