GlaxoSmithKline completes tender offer for Genelabs

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 7 - GlaxoSmithKline plc said a total of 39,250,243 shares of Genelabs Technologies, Inc. common stock were tendered in its $1.30-per-share offer that ended at midnight ET on Jan. 6.

Gemstone Acquisition Corp., a GlaxoSmithKline wholly owned subsidiary, has accepted for payment all Genelabs shares tendered in the offer.

The tendered shares plus the shares beneficially owned by GlaxoSmithKline and its wholly owned subsidiaries represent 88.55% of the outstanding shares of Genelabs on a fully diluted basis, a GlaxoSmithKline news release said.

According to GlaxoSmithKline, it has exercised the top-up option under its merger agreement with Genelabs, increasing its share ownership percentage of Genelabs through the purchase of newly issued shares of Genelabs common stock at the tender offer price.

Gemstone owns more than 90% of Genelabs outstanding shares of common stock as a result.

The transaction will be completed by a short-form merger that does not require a vote by Genelabs shareholders, said GlaxoSmithKline.

One the acquisition is complete, Genelabs will become a wholly owned subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline and its shares will cease to be traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

On Oct. 29, GlaxoSmithKline agreed to acquire Genelabs for $57 million in a move designed to strengthen GlaxoSmithKline's effort to develop and deliver novel therapies against the hepatitis C virus.

Redwood City, Calif.-based Genelabs is a biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company specializing in gene-regulating drug discovery, immunological disorders and infectious diseases including hepatitis.

GlaxoSmithKline is a pharmaceutical and consumer health-related products company based in Brentford, England.

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