Nestlé to buy peanut allergy treatment maker for €2bn

Nestlé plans to pay $2 billion (€1.7 billion) to gain full ownership of peanut allergy treatment maker Aimmune Therapeutics, as the Swiss company expands its fast-growing health science business.

Known for its KitKat chocolate bars and Nescafe instant coffee, Nestlé set up Nestlé Health Science in 2011 to open up a new area of business between food and pharma.

Allergies

Nestlé said in a statement that its offer for Aimmune values the California-based biopharmaceutical firm, with which it has been working since 2016 and in which it already has a stake of around 25.6 per cent, at $2.6 billion.

"Aimmune has $261 million in cash and $134 million in debt. With our prior investment of $473 million in Aimmune, we'll be making a cash payment of just under $2 billion," Nestlé Health Science head Greg Behar said..

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Nestlé estimates that up to 240 million people worldwide suffer from food allergies, with peanut allergy being the most common, and with Aimmune, Nestlé Health Science will have prevention, diagnostic and medical treatment options available, Mr Behar said.

Aimmune’s Palforzia peanut allergy treatment, which recently gained US approval for children, has sales potential of $1 billion, Mr Behar said.

Nestlé, whose shares were up 0.6 per cent on Monday morning, is offering a 174 per cent premium to Aimmune’s closing share price of $12.60 on August 28th. Aimmune shares hit a record high in January when Palforzia was approved, then dropped during the coronavirus crisis. Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy said the deal was “another milestone” for Nestlé Health Science after it bought Atrium in 2017. – Reuters