Tag Archives: GCVRZ

Sanofi CVRs litigation settlement agreement arbitrage

When Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) acquired Genzyme back in 2011 it issued tradable contingent value rights (NASDAQ:GCVRZ) that would payout when meeting certain regulatory and sale milestones. Despite high initial expectations none of the milestones were met, and at some point it looked extremely likely that the CVRs would expire worthless. However, some CVR holders went to court arguing that Sanofi didn’t fulfill their obligations under the agreement. Apparently their argument had some merit (I never followed these CVRs that closely to be honest), and yesterday Sanofi announced that they would settle and pay a total of $315 million.

Sanofi logoThe trustee estimates that this would translate into approximately $0.88/CVR after paying all fees, but is unable to provide an exact number at this time. With the rights trading at $0.84 yesterday I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of them since this implies a spread of 4.8% which I think it quite generous for something that should be more or less a done deal. They will need to get court approval for the settlement, but I don’t think there is much that can go wrong nor should it take that much time. It’s a very straightforward situation at this point, and combined with a decent spread I think it makes a good bet.

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Long GCVRZ