HARP - AstraZeneca - LogicBio deal indicates more such takeovers are ahead - Cantor

• After AstraZeneca ( AZN ) unit Alexion ( AZN ) agreed to acquire nano-cap LogicBio ( LOGC ), paying over 660% premium on Monday, Cantor sees further acquisitions for smaller cap firms where valuations have come under pressure despite their attractive assets/ platforms.
• Lexington, Massachusetts-based LOGC advances a genome editing platform and an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene delivery platform. However, its shares have lost ~55% over the past 12 months.
• “We believe the deal reflects a willingness by Large Cap players to pay a premium on companies that have valuations that may be pressured by macroenvironmental factors and/or internal setbacks, but the assets/platforms of which remain fundamentally undervalued,” the analyst Jennifer Kim wrote.
• Kim cites Overweight-rated Harpoon Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: HARP ), Checkpoint Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: CKPT ), and Neutral-rated ProQR Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: PRQR ) as biotechs that meet these characteristics in the firm’s coverage.
• This graph indicates that the valuations of all three clinical stage biotechs have lost sharply over the past 12 months.

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