Vontobel makes exchange offer to Board of Directors of BB Biotech

 

The Vontobel Group has notified the Board of Directors of BB Biotech AG ('BB Biotech') that it is willing to make a public exchange offer to shareholders under which their shares of BB Biotech would be exchanged for shares of an investment fund. The offer made by the Vontobel Group would represent a premium of 31.7% and a capital gain of approximately CHF 337 million for the shareholders of BB Biotech relative to the BB Biotech closing share price on 12 July 2012 (discount to net asset value (NAV) of 4.2%). The shares of the investment fund could be traded at NAV at any time.

 

The shares of BB Biotech have, for years, been traded at a significant discount to their NAV. On 12 July 2012, the shares closed at CHF 81.95, which represents a discount to NAV of 27.3%. The Board of Directors of BB Biotech has been pursuing a strategy to reduce the share price discount to NAV and to stabilize it through the repurchase of shares. This strategy has not achieved its objective despite well over CHF 1 billion of shares having been repurchased in the period from 2004 to present.

 

In a letter dated 24 January 2012, the Vontobel Group notified the Board of Directors of BB Biotech that it is willing to make a public offer to the shareholders of BB Biotech. The offer is intended to enable shares of BB Biotech to be exchanged for shares of an investment fund under Luxembourg law that would be newly established. It would be possible for the shares of the investment fund to be traded at the applicable NAV at any time in the future. The exchange would entail a discount to NAV of 4.2%. The current asset manager,Bellevue Asset Management Group, would to be retained.

 

The offer by the Vontobel Group is conditional on it being supported by the Board of Directors of BB Biotech. The Vontobel Group expects in the next days the Board of Directors of BB Biotech to issue a binding opinion on this matter.

This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute a public exchange offer or a notice of a public exchange offer.

 

Contact

Media Relations:                       Reto Giudicetti                         +41 (0)58 283 61 63
Investor Relations:                    Susanne Borer                          +41 (0)58 283 73 29