Business Roundtables
Testing the Water - Can New Deal Structures De-Risk M&A?
October 29, 2009
12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Twin Peaks South
The challenges posed by today’s economic environment have given way to a new class of deal structures. Traditionally part of licensing agreements, option-based deals have now ventured into M&A as way for pharma and biotech to de-risk the portfolio. In addition, many recent acquisitions are with existing partners – a way to get on the inside before making the plunge. Is this trend here to stay or do tough times equal tougher terms for Biotech M&A? Are these deals net positive for biotech, pharma or both? In this panel we’ll discuss these new deal structures and those that might be seen in coming months.
Moderator:
- Jeffrey R. Greene, Global Transactions Leader, Life Sciences, Ernst & Young LLP
Panelists:
- Marc Grasso, MD, Managing Director, Head of West Coast Investment Banking, Leerink Swann
- Paul J. Hastings, President and CEO, OncoMed
- Andrew A. Hindman, Vice President, Corporate Development, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc
- Craig C. Parker, Senior Vice President, Finance & Corporate Development, & Chief Financial Officer, Proteolix, Inc.
Who's Who
Jeffrey R. Greene
Jeff is the Global Transactions Leader for Ernst & Young’s Global Life Sciences Sector. With more than 25 years of deal experience, he supports global companies with their due diligence, tax, integration, carve-out and valuation needs on both buy- and sell-side transactions. He is a recognized expert witness in federal, district, bankruptcy and tax courts on valuation, fairness and solvency matters. Jeff frequently speaks and writes on portfolio management, valuation, due diligence and performance measurement. Among his recent articles: Inside a Carve-out: How Bristol-Myers executed three divestitures, Optimizing the Corporate Portfolio in a Buyer’s Market, and The Valuation-Savvy Pharma Enterprise. Jeff received an MBA from Harvard Business School with a concentration in finance and international business, and a BA in physics from Dartmouth College, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. On the Board of Trustees of Adelphi University he is a member of the Executive, Finance, Audit and Academic Affairs Committees.
Marc Grasso, MD
Marc Grasso, MD, is a managing director in the San Francisco office for Leerink Swann. Marc joined Leerink in May of 2008 to lead the firm’s investment banking expansion on the west coast. Marc joined from Morgan Stanley where he was an investment banking coverage officer for biotechnology. Including from Leerink, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and BT Alex. Brown, Marc has over eleven years of biopharma investment banking experience and has been involved in over 40 healthcare transactions including $11 billion in capital raised and $7 billion of advisory transactions. Marc received an M.D. from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and an undergraduate degree in molecular biology from Princeton University.
Paul J. Hastings
Mr. Hastings brings more than 20 years of experience as a biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry executive. He has served as President and CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals since January 2006. Prior to joining OncoMed, Mr. Hastings was President and Chief Executive Officer of QLT, Inc. Previous to that, Mr. Hastings served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Axys Pharmacuticals, which was acquired by Celera Corporation in 2001. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Hastings served as the President of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals, a division of Chiron Corporation. Prior to that, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of LXR Biotechnology. Mr. Hastings also held a series of management positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Corporation, including serving as President of Genzyme Therapeutics Europe as well as President of Worldwide Therapeutics. Mr. Hastings also served as Vice President, Marketing and Sales and General Manager, Europe for Synergen, Inc., and previously held a series of marketing and sales management positions with Hoffmann-La Roche. Mr. Hastings currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Proteolix, and also serves on the board of directors of Cerimon Pharmaceuticals. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island.
Andrew A. Hindman
Andrew A. Hindman is Vice President, Corporate Development at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, a position he has held since August 2008. In this capacity, Mr. Hindman is responsible for leading Onyx’s efforts in securing external innovation to expand its product portfolio and catalyze the next phase of long-term growth for Onyx as a leading, independent biopharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Onyx, Mr. Hindman worked at Gilead Sciences (1998-2008) where he served in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility during his tenure. These roles included Hepatitis Franchise Global Commercial Lead and Project Leader, architecting the launch of HepseraŽ (2001-2006) for treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection and development of franchise leadership for Gilead in the field of hepatology. In addition, Mr. Hindman contributed significantly to Gilead’s early strategic and corporate development initiatives, including the acquisition of NeXstar Pharmaceuticals (1999), Triangle Pharmaceuticals (2002) and Myogen (2006). Each of these transactions helped diversify and complement Gilead’s internal drug development and commercialization capabilities with external innovation to fuel Gilead’s long-term growth. Prior to Gilead, Mr. Hindman helped establish the biotechnology investment banking franchise at J.P. Morgan, Inc. Mr. Hindman holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BA (Biochemistry and Economics, with high honors) from Wesleyan University, Phi Beta Kappa.
Craig C. Parker
Craig was most recently the President of DCD BioConsulting LLC, a firm providing strategic, business development and finance related advisory services to the biotechnology industry. Before that, Craig was an equity research analyst at Lehman Brothers as well as with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and JP Morgan. During his career as an analyst, Mr. Parker was consistently rated one of the top analysts covering the biotechnology sector by Institutional Investor, Reuters, and Greenwich Research surveys and has also been a Wall Street Journal All-Star Analyst. Before joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Parker was also a Senior Vice President at Immunex Corporation where he was General Manager of the Specialty Therapeutics franchise. In that capacity, he managed a business unit with more than $200 million in product sales that discovered, developed, manufactured and marketed oncology and neurology products.
Mr. Parker currently serves on the Science Advisory Board of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan and Chairs the Institute’s Leadership Council. He is also on the scientific evaluation board for the LSI’s Innovation Partnership Fund. Mr. Parker received his undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago, an MBA from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and attended the Georgetown University School of Medicine.