MorphoSys Lifts FY13 View As MOR202 Alliance With Celgene Turns Effective

(RTTNews) - German biotechnology company MorphoSys AG (MPSYY.PK) on Saturday lifted its forecast for fiscal 2013 earnings before interest and tax and revenues, after its MOR202 alliance with biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. (CELG) became effective upon receiving anti-trust clearance.

It was on June 26 that MorphoSys and Celgene agreed to jointly develop MOR202 globally and to co-promote MOR202 in Europe. MOR202 is a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting CD38 to treat patients with multiple myeloma and certain leukemias.

As per the deal, MorphoSys' management board and supervisory board has also resolved on a capital increase from authorized capital to issue 797,150 new shares to Celgene Alpine Investment Co., LLC.

In the capital increase, Celgene will invest 46.2 million euros to subscribe for 797,150 new shares of MorphoSys at a share price of 57.90 euros per share. This represents 3.4 percent of MorphoSys's registered share capital and a premium of 5 percent on the share's closing price on August 9.

In its statement, MorphoSys said it now expects fiscal 2013 earnings before interest and tax or EBIT of 2 million euros to 6 million euros, compared to previous forecast of EBIT loss of 2 million euros to profit of 2 million euros. The company now projects full-year revenues of approximately 74 million euros to 78 million euros, higher than previous outlook of 68 million euros to 72 million euros.

Jens Holstein, Chief Financial Officer of MorphoSys, said, "We are very pleased about receiving regulatory clearance and will now put our strategic alliance with Celgene into action. The upfront payment plus the equity further strengthens our financial position, enabling us to expand our proprietary portfolio of promising development candidates through targeted investments."