Zymeworks Gains as Would-Be Suitor All Blue Capital Names Medical Advisors, Sends Letter Demanding Takeover Talks

Zymeworks (NYSE:ZYME) shares jumped 11% intra-day after All Blue Capital named Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD as a medical advisor in support of its proposed $10.50 per share acquisition offer for the company.

Dr. Mukherjee is the Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

In addition to the medical advisor hire, All Blue Capital again urged the board of Zymeworks to engage about the takeover offer in a new letter.

In the letter, Matthew Novak, Managing Partner of All Blue Capital, called Zymeworks’ refusal to engage “surprising and disappointing.”

“As a significant Zymeworks investor, we believe that Zymeworks shareholders deserve better than the consistent value destruction they have suffered,” Novak wrote. “We continue to believe that our proposal would deliver compelling and immediate value to Zymeworks shareholders, and we would expect the Board to promptly engage with us to discuss the proposed transaction.”