Samsung Biologics is paying CHF 1.46 billion, $1.8 billion, for Swiss peptide manufacturer PolyPeptide at CHF 44.31 a share, roughly $54.75, per the all-cash tender offer filed this week. That’s a 6% premium to PolyPeptide’s Friday close and a 12% bump over its 60-day volume-weighted average, a thin markup for what Korea JoongAng Daily calls the largest deal any Korean biopharma company has ever done.
The premium looks small because the stock already ran. PolyPeptide and its board confirmed in April they were reviewing strategic options after buyout rumors surfaced, so the market had three months to price this in before Samsung showed up with a term sheet. Its largest holder, Draupnir Holding, controls more than 55% of the stock and has already committed to the deal, and the board’s recommendation was unanimous. Not much of a fight left.
This is Samsung Bio’s second buyout in four months. In March, the company closed its $280 million acquisition of GSK’s Human Genome Sciences plants in Rockville, Maryland, its first US manufacturing site. PolyPeptide adds API plants in India, France, Belgium, Sweden and California, roughly 1,400 employees, and $439 million in 2025 revenue, up 16% but short of the 20% to 25% growth PolyPeptide had previously guided for the year. That revenue trajectory is why Samsung is paying up now: the buyer needs peptide capacity it can’t build in-house fast enough for the weight-loss boom.
Swiss law gives the offer a mandatory 30-day review window. Samsung expects to launch it by the end of August and close by year-end.
— Diana Kowalski