Daily Brief Health Care: Celltrion Healthcare , TSE Tokyo Price Index TOPIX, Cipla Ltd, Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals and more

• Back on the 17 August, biopharmaceuticals developer and producer Celltrion Inc (068270 KS) announced a merger with Celltrion Healthcare (091990 KS).
• On October 23rd, shareholders approved the merger. The appraisal rights exercise period commenced on the 23 October and ends on November 13. 28th December is the merger’s effective date.
• Initially, the stock purchase rights limit was set at 1₩tn; however Celltrion Group’s founder/Chairman Seo Jung-jin has removed this limit. That takes care of NPS, which opposes the merger.

• It should be noted that some companies that state that they do not possess takeover defenses also indicate that they will take “appropriate measures.”
• Addition of ROE and % of independent directors to the approval/disapproval of takeover defense agenda is likely an afterthought to add these conditions to favor the introduction of takeover defense.
• It’ll take several years before life insurance companies show signs of change in voting. It’ll be interesting to see how they come to terms with their corporate clients and stewardship.

• In Q2FY24, Cipla Ltd (CIPLA IN) clocked record-high quarterly revenue at INR66.8B (+15% YoY), and EBITDA margin of 26%, driven by double-digit growth across India, North America, and South Africa.
• U.S. business reported highest ever revenue of $229M. India revenue is up 10% YoY, driven by continued market beating performance in branded prescription and trade generics businesses.
• Cipla raised FY24 EBITDA margin guidance from 23% to 23% to 24% with bias towards the higher end. The company started FY24 with an EBITDA margin guidance of 21–22%.

Paradigm announced Q1 results (for the quarter ending 30 September) and a A$30m capital raise to potentially extend its cash runway through to mid CY25. Management attributed increased spending in the quarter to increased clinical and recruiting activity, which translated into a higher net cash outflow from operating activities of A$22.5m (vs A$17.1m in Q423). With the PARA_OA_008 programme now concluded, as well as the upcoming completion of the mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) VI Phase II trial and anticipated lower costs for PARA_OA_002, management expects R&D spend to decline in Q224, from A$21.9 in Q124 (vs A$16.1m in Q423). At the quarter end, the company had a cash balance of A$33.6m.