Spark investors cut their holdings as Roche trading was delayed again

, Roche and Sback Therapeutics again delayed a $4.3 billion takeover bid.
"In order to give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) more time to complete the review, the bid period for Spark shares has been extended from the current deadline of November 25 to December 10," Roche said on Friday. Neither
nor anti-competitive reviews are new. This time it is strange how many of Spark's shareholders have already made an offer - or rather, how many have not.
Previously, Spark's share of the bid had remained relatively stable at around 20 per cent, despite repeated delays. But as of Thursday, that figure had fallen to 14.8 per cent, according to Roche, more than 2.1m shares below the total tender on October 28th.
Roche's management remains confident of completing its acquisition of Sbach by the end of the year, Jeffreys analyst Peter Welford wrote in a statement On Thursday, having just hosted Roche Chief Financial Officer Alan Seppi at a meeting in London.
According to a recent report by the Congressional Forum, FTC staffers have signed the agreement after discussing the haemophilia franchise between the two companies with doctors. Specifically, the Federal Trade Commission is concerned about putting Roche's fast-growing hemophilia drug Hemlibra and Spark's gene therapy candidate, SPK-8011, under the same roof. （cyy123.com）