Drug giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) will push ahead with its $50 million-plus acquisition of Triangle-based Icagen (Nasdaq: ICGN) even though it has so far acquired only some 70 percent of outstanding Icagen shares.
A number of Icagen investors have insisted the $6 price is too low, even though Icagen management has asked shareholders to back the deal. Icagen is set to become part of Pfizer subsidiary Eclipse Acquisition Corp.
The final in a series of extensions for the Pfizer offer expired at 6 p.m. Monday.
Pfizer announced the $56 million deal in July.
In a statement, Pfizer said it acquired just over 5.393 million shares in addition to the 1.07 million shares it already owned as an investor in Icagen, a drug development partner.
The total of 6.4 million shares gives Pfizer control of 70.2 percent of the company.
Since it did not achieve 90 percent, the company has declared it will pursue a “second-step merger.” That means icagen will call a shareholders meeting “as soon as is practicable,” Pfizer said.
“As a result of the purchase of shares in the tender offer, Pfizer has sufficient voting power to approve the merger without the affirmative vote of any other Icagen stockholder,” Pfizer said.
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