BioLogics completes Bioepis deal with Biogen

Samsung BioLogics announced Tuesday that it has completed a deal with Biogen in the midst of an accounting investigation and ahead of a key decision in the matter.

The Securities and Futures Commission, which is under the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), is scheduled to discuss on Nov. 14 whether the pharmaceutical company violated accounting rules.

Samsung BioLogics said on Tuesday it would complete a share swap deal with Biogen of the United States on a call option for Samsung Bioepis. The biopharmaceutical arm of Samsung Group is set to transfer 9,226,068 shares in Samsung Bioepis to Biogen and Biogen is set to pay around 759.5 billion won ($675.8 million) in return to Samsung BioLogics today.

Samsung BioLogics and Biogen jointly founded Bioepis in February 2012. At the time, BioLogics invested 280.5 billion won for an 85 percent stake in Bioepis, whereas Biogen put up 49.5 billion won for a 15 percent stake plus a call option that could enable the U.S. partner to increase its stake up to just one share under 50 percent.

Biogen announced on June 29 that it will exercise its call option right to purchase additional shares in Samsung Bioepis.

Following the deal, to be completed today, the BioLogics stake in Bioepis will fall from 94.6 percent to 50 percent plus one share.

In July, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) ruled that Samsung BioLogics violated accounting rules to inflate its valuation ahead of the company’s 2.25 trillion won initial public offering in 2016, which was the second-largest ever in Korea, by changing the status of Bioepis from a subsidiary into an affiliate.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun@joongang.co.kr]