TOKYO and Massachusetts, Jan. 22,
2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503,
President and CEO: Yoshihiko
Hatanaka, "Astellas") and Ocata Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:
OCAT, President and CEO: Paul
Wotton, "Ocata") today announced that Astellas has extended,
through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Laurel Acquisition
Inc., the offering period of the tender offer to purchase all
issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Ocata for a price
of US$8.50 per share, net to the
holder in cash ("Tender Offer") until 5:00
pm, U.S. Eastern Time, on February 9,
2016. The Tender Offer, as previously extended, was
scheduled to expire at 5:00 pm, U.S.
Eastern Time, on January 21, 2016.
The further extension of the Tender Offer will allow Ocata's
stockholders additional time to tender their shares into the Tender
Offer.
All terms and conditions of the Tender Offer shall remain
unchanged during the extended offering period.
"We remain very excited about the combination of Astellas and
Ocata and are fully committed to achieving a successful completion
of the transaction," commented Yoshihiko Hatanaka, President
and CEO, Astellas. "We highly value Ocata's R&D capabilities,
where we plan to make further investments, and expect Ocata to take
a key role within Astellas' R&D in ophthalmology and cell
therapy. We believe that Astellas' offer represents an attractive
proposal to Ocata's shareholders, and we look forward to closing
the tender offer at the end of this offering period."
About Astellas
Astellas Pharma Inc., based in
Tokyo, Japan, is a company
dedicated to improving the health of people around the world
through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical
products. We focus on Urology, Oncology, Immunology, Nephrology and
Neuroscience as prioritized therapeutic areas while advancing new
therapeutic areas and discovery research leveraging new
technologies/modalities. We are also creating new value by
combining internal capabilities and external expertise in the
medical/healthcare business. Astellas is on the forefront of
healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for
patients. For more information, please visit our website at
www.astellas.com/en.
About Ocata
Ocata Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical
stage biotechnology company focused on the development and
commercialization of new therapies in the field of regenerative
medicine. Ocata's most advanced products are in clinical trials for
the treatment of Stargardt's macular degeneration, dry age-related
macular degeneration, and myopic macular degeneration. Ocata's
intellectual property portfolio includes pluripotent stem cell
platforms – hESC and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) – and
other cell therapy research programs. For more information on
Ocata, please visit www.ocata.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Any statements made in this communication that
are not statements of historical fact, including statements about
the expected timetable for completing the transaction and Astellas'
and Ocata's beliefs and expectations and statements about Astellas'
proposed acquisition of Ocata, including the timing of and closing
conditions to the acquisition, and the potential effects of the
acquisition on both Astellas and Ocata are forward-looking
statements that are based on management's beliefs, certain
assumptions and current expectations and should be evaluated as
such. These statements may be identified by their use of
forward-looking terminology such as the words "expects,"
"projects," "anticipates," "intends" and other similar words.
Forward-looking statements include statements that may relate to
Astellas' or Ocata's plans, objectives, strategies, goals, future
events, future revenues or performance, and other information that
is not historical information. Such forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected. These risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic,
business and market conditions and the satisfaction of the
conditions to closing of the proposed transaction. For a more
complete discussion of certain of the risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the
forward-looking statements with respect to Ocata, see the
discussion of risks and uncertainties in Ocata's annual report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December
31, 2014, its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and
other SEC filings. The forward-looking statements contained
in this news release are made as of the date hereof, and neither
Astellas nor Ocata undertakes any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events,
new information or otherwise, except as required by law.
Important Additional Information
This communication
is provided for informational purposes only. No statement in this
document is an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to
sell securities. Any offers to purchase or solicitation of offers
to sell will be made only pursuant to the Tender Offer Statement on
Schedule TO (including the Offer to Purchase, the Letter of
Transmittal and other documents relating to the Offer) that
Astellas and Laurel, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of
Astellas, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"SEC") on November 19, 2015. In
addition, Ocata filed a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on
Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the Tender Offer on November 19, 2015. THE TENDER OFFER STATEMENT
(INCLUDING THE OFFER TO PURCHASE, A RELATED LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
AND OTHER OFFER DOCUMENTS) AND THE SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION
STATEMENT CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT SHOULD BE READ
CAREFULLY AND CONSIDERED BY OCATA'S STOCKHOLDERS BEFORE ANY
DECISION IS MADE WITH RESPECT TO THE TENDER OFFER. Such
documents have been made available to Ocata's stockholders at no
expense to them. In addition, you may obtain copies of these
documents (and all other Offer documents filed with the SEC) at no
charge on the SEC's website: www.sec.gov.
OCATA'S STOCKHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE SCHEDULE TO AND THE
SCHEDULE 14D-9, AS EACH MAY BE AMENDED OR SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO
TIME, AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT OFFER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC
BEFORE THEY MAKE ANY DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE TENDER OFFER,
BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED
TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES THERETO.
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SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.