Friday, February 10, 2012

Despite takeover talk, Onyx on rise with HQ expansion, drug portfolio

(SF Business Times subscription required for full story.)
As Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. preps for an expansion of its South San Francisco headquarters, one question naggingly persists in spite of the company’s success: Will it still be independent when it moves into the space?
Built around the liver and kidney cancer-fighting drug Nexavar and looking at the promise of two other anti-cancer agents, Onyx over the past year has consistently been the center of takeover rumors. That talk picked up late last year with the settlement of a lawsuit with Bayer AG and the continued progress of the two experimental cancer drugs.
For its part, the company has steadfastly played coy. It declined to comment on a November news report, for example, that it had hired Centerview Partners LLP to look at strategic alternatives.
Nonetheless, Onyx continues to move forward, with $600 million in cash, looking every bit like an independent company. It has leased 162,000-square-foot structure, on which BNBuilders Inc. soon will begin construction, next to Onyx’s East Grand Avenue headquarters. It initially will move into 90,000 square feet.
It also recently opened a European headquarters in Switzerland.

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