Gleiss Lutz advises Boehringer Ingelheim on acquisition of Viratherapeutics

Ingel­heim am Rhein, Germany — German phar­maceu­ti­cal group Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim has acqui­red all shares in Austria-based Vira­The­ra­peu­tics GmbH, a biophar­maceu­ti­cal company rese­ar­ching inno­va­tive virus-based immu­no­the­ra­peu­tics for the treat­ment of cancer. Through this biotech acqui­si­tion with a tran­sac­tion volume of 210 million euros, Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim is further expan­ding its commit­ment in this area. Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim was advi­sed on this tran­sac­tion by GleissLutz.

Back in 2016, Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim ente­red into a colla­bo­ra­tion with Vira­The­ra­peu­tics: Their goal was to deve­lop onco­ly­tic viru­ses, which are among the most promi­sing new thera­peu­tic approa­ches in cancer rese­arch. In this context, the Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim Venture Fund (BIVF) was alre­ady one of the core inves­tors in the Austrian company. A purchase option had also been agreed as part of the coope­ra­tion. Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim has now exer­cised this. Gleiss Lutz had alre­ady compre­hen­si­vely advi­sed Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim on the conclu­sion of the coope­ra­tion in 2016.

Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim is one of the world’s top 20 phar­maceu­ti­cal compa­nies. Head­quar­te­red in Ingel­heim, Germany, Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim has 145 affi­lia­ted compa­nies world­wide and employs a total of appro­xi­m­ately 50,000 people. In 2017, Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim gene­ra­ted sales of just under 18.1 billion euros. At more than three billion euros, rese­arch & deve­lo­p­ment expen­dit­ures corre­spond to 17.0 percent of sales.

The law firm Maybach Görg Lenn­eis Geréd Rechts­an­wälte GmbH advi­sed on Austrian law.

Dr. Jan Wilhelm Bolt from Boeh­rin­ger Ingelheim’s legal depart­ment was in charge of the transaction.

Advi­sor Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim: Gleiss Lutz
Dr. Martin Viciano Gofferje (Part­ner, Lead, Corporate/M&A, Berlin), Dr. Alex­an­der Schwarz (Part­ner, Corporate/M&A, Düssel­dorf) and Dr. Herwig Lux (Coun­sel, IP, Stutt­gart) advi­sed Boeh­rin­ger Ingel­heim on this transaction.