Report: Bayer closing in on takeover of drug partner Onyx

Drug developer Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s stock closed up 9 percent on rumors that longtime partner Bayer AG will soon close a deal to buy the South San Francisco biotech company. Bayer is zeroing in on a large acquisition, Reuters reported Wednesday. One source told the news agency that Marjin Dekkers, CEO of the German drug maker, is “keen to do something and it could happen within the next couple of days.” Folks who watch for mergers and acquisitions like Kremlinologists during the Cold War translated that to mean an Onyx deal is brewing on the eve of the local company’s 20th anniversary. “It’s speculation and rumors,” Onyx spokeswoman Lori Melancon said Wednesday. “We just don’t comment on market rumors.”