Mural Oncology To Be Acquired By XOMA Royalty

Mural Oncology PLC (MURA) and XOMA Royalty Corporation (XOMA) announced on Wednesday that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which a unit of XOMA will acquire Mural for cash.

Under the deal, each Mural Shareholder would receive a cash price of between $2.035 and $2.24 per share. The base cash price represents a premium of approximately 13.1% to Mural’s closing share price of $1.80 on Tuesday. The additional price per share of up to $0.205 will be paid if Mural’s closing net cash exceeds estimates.

MURA stock jumped 14% in the premarket session at the time of writing. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Mural jumped from ‘neutral’ to ‘bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume rose from ‘low’ to ‘high’ levels. Meanwhile, retail sentiment around XOMA fell from ‘bullish’ to ‘neutral’ territory over the past 24 hours.

Mural's board of directors said that they have determined the acquisition and cash offer by XOMA, a biotechnology royalty aggregator, is in the best interest of all Mural shareholders. The board approved the acquisition and recommended that Mural shareholders vote in favor.

The acquisition will be subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, including approval by Mural shareholders. Excluding additional price per share, the deal values Mural at about $36.2 million.

Mural Oncology announced plans to explore strategic alternatives in April after discontinuing all clinical development of Nemvaleukin. The decision followed data from a late-stage trial where Nemvaleukin in combination with Pembrolizumab did not achieve the primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in overall survival versus chemotherapy in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The company also saw no positive results from a mid-stage study of the drug in mucosal and cutaneous melanoma.

MURA stock is down by 44% this year and over the past 12 months. 

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