Acquisition · Biotech (gene editing)
AnGes takes full control of gene-editing startup EmendoBio in a $250 million share deal
- Buyer
- AnGes (Osaka)
- Target
- EmendoBio, New York, New York (research in Israel)
- Value
- $250M valuation (about ¥26.3B), paid mainly in new AnGes shares; AnGes already owned about 40%
- Status
- Completed December 15, 2020.
- Date
- 2020-11-09
AnGes, an Osaka-based drug developer, agreed to buy the rest of EmendoBio, a New York-registered gene-editing company whose main lab is in Israel. The deal valued EmendoBio at $250 million, and AnGes paid the other shareholders mainly with newly issued AnGes shares. AnGes had invested in stages and held about 40% of the votes before the deal.
Why it matters
It gave AnGes control of a next-generation gene-editing platform for gene therapies, at a time when the company was best known for its COVID-19 vaccine effort.
A costly bet
EmendoBio became a consolidated subsidiary on December 15, 2020, and AnGes booked large goodwill. Its first planned gene-editing treatment, for a rare inherited blood disorder, slipped behind schedule in the US. In 2023 AnGes reorganized Emendo to focus on licensing its editing platform to others, and in March 2024 it licensed the technology to Sweden's Anocca.
The write-off
In February 2025, after reviewing Emendo's business plan again, AnGes wrote off about ¥19.9 billion of goodwill from the deal in its 2024 results.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
