What happened
Shares of Advanced Accelerator Application SA (AAAP), a manufacturer of tracers used for medical imaging, rose 19.8% in October according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. A tender offer from Swiss pharma giant, Novartis (NVS -1.32%) was the catalyst.
So what
Advanced Accelerator Applications hasn't received much attention since spinning off from the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2002, but the company has quietly built a leadership position in the burgeoning niche for radioactive markers. Novartis offered $82 per American depositary share, which works out to $41 per ordinary share or a grand total around $3.9 billion for the company.
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Now what
Advanced Accelerator has maintained a low profile over the years. The 47% premium Novartis offered the company last month seems awfully steep for a company that reported just $41.7 million in total revenue during the second quarter and lost $11.3 during the three month period. It's important to point out second-quarter sales came in 32% higher than the previous year period and the stage is set for more growth ahead.
At the end of September, the European Commission approved a marketing application for Lutathera, a radioactive molecule that targets specific receptors found on the surface of neuroendocrine tumor cells. The FDA is expected to issue an approval decision regarding Lutathera in late January.
