Tesaro Antitrust Filings

It looks like all of the required antitrust filings for GlaxoSmithKline’s acquisition of Tesaro has been completed:

1. US Antitrust (HSR) filed on 12/14/18 with an expiration of 12/31/18

2. German Antitrust (FCO) filed on 12/18/18 with an expiration of 1/18/19

3. Austrian Antitrust (FCA) filed on 12/18/18 with an expiration of 1/15/19

The tender offer expires on 1/14/19, which I see as a high likelihood of occurring. Could possibly see a tender extension based on the time frame in the completion of the FCO and FCA antitrust reviews. The spread has widened a bit, which is likely attributed to the overall market. Lots of other arb spreads have started widening a bit as players are in a risk off mentality.
 

Tesaro Arb Play

I really like the Tesaro arb play at this current price (~$73 and change). GlaxoSmithKline (Ticker: GSK) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Tesaro (Ticker: TSRO) for $75.00 in cash on December 3rd. The company initiated the tender offer today with the tender expiring on January 14^th. The company has stated that it plans to file for antitrust clearance on December 17^th, which would equate to a HSR decision by January 4^th. I don’t see any antitrust issues. The company does not have any scheduled clinical read outs prior to the closing of the tender offer. Of course there can be a curve ball such as adverse clinical events resulting in a clinical hold or Zejula (PARP inhibitor for ovarian cancer) being pulled from the market, which will result in a material adverse event. These are risks you face with any pharma / biotech buyouts. At the current price, you are looking at a mid-teens annualized return, which I find attractive. I am playing this deal via short puts and long common.

Edit: Company filed for antitrust clearance on December 14^th with the HSR 15 day waiting period expiring on December 31^st.

November 2018 Performance

Well, I got walloped again in November as my portfolio was not able to escape the sell-off. I’m basically in hibernation mode with a ~ 13% cash position. I did come out of the cave today by initiating a position in Tesaro (Ticker: TSRO) via short puts, which is being acquired by GlaxoSmithKline (Ticker: GSK) for $75.00 in cash. This is the type of deal I like, a tender offer situation with low antitrust risk. I’m going to keep this post short as there really is nothing else new to report…

  

2018 Performance = +5.96% with the running monthly returns as follows:

January +2.80%
February +2.82%
March -0.03%
April +2.10%
May +6.25%
June -1.51%
July +1.53%

August +5.1%

September -0.60%

October -8.78%

November -3.00%