HQ Team
June 12, 2025: Germany’s BioNTech SE will acquire CureVac N.V., which develops therapies based on messenger RNA, for $1.25 billion in an all-stock deal to expand the former’s mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy medicines.
CureVac shareholders are expected to own between 4% and 6% of BioNTech after the transaction closes this year, according to a joint statement.
In the public exchange offer for all shares of CureVac, each share of CureVac will be exchanged for about $5.46 in BioNTech American Depositary Shares, representing a premium of 55% to CureVac’s three-month average share price of $3.53 as of June 11, 2025.
If the 10-day volume weighted average price of the BioNTech ADSs ending on the fifth business day before the closing of the offer exceeds $126.55, the exchange ratio would be 0.04318, and if the VWAP is lower than $84.37, the exchange ratio would be 0.06476.
Federal government’s stake
Germany-based rival CureVac’s business and interests, and its subsidiaries, will be fully owned by BioNTech. The Mainz-headquartered company stated that the German Federal government has “confirmed to generally have a positive view on the transaction.”
BioNTech hopes that Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau – which holds 13.32% of the shares in CureVac on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany – will support the transaction by tendering its shares in CureVac.
The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe, is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt.
BioNTech will integrate CureVac’s research and manufacturing site in Tübingen and will start preparing an integration plan in alignment with the company’s ongoing group-wide transformation.
€15.9 million in cash
The acquisition positions the company to accelerate and broaden the development of mRNA-based medicines for patients in need, according to the statement. BioNTech had €15.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents and security investments as of March 31, 2025.
With the acquisition, BioNTech aims to strengthen the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialisation of investigational mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy, according to the statement.
“This transaction is another building block in BioNTech’s oncology strategy and an investment in the future of cancer medicine,” said Prof Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech.
“We intend to bring together complementary capabilities and leverage technologies to advance the development of innovative and transformative cancer treatments and establish new standards of care for various types of cancers.”
Complement BioNTech’s mRNA technologies
The transaction will complement BioNTech’s capabilities and proprietary technologies in mRNA design, delivery formulations, and mRNA manufacturing.
For BioNTech, this transaction marks the next milestone in the execution of its oncology strategy, which focuses on two pan-tumour programs, mRNA-based cancer immunotherapy candidates, and BNT327, a PD-L1xVEGF-A bispecific antibody candidate.
“To me, this transaction is more than a business decision; it represents a shared commitment to leverage the full potential of mRNA as a disruptive technology to develop transformative therapies with greater scale and speed,” said Dr Alexander Zehnder, CEO of CureVac.
CureVac sold its influenza and COVID-19 vaccine development to alliance partner GSK about a year ago to focus on oncology. The German company had slashed jobs as it sought to move beyond its failure to develop an mRNA-based COVID vaccine during the pandemic.
The BioNTech agreement is also set to end CureVac’s years-long legal fight over alleged mRNA patent infringement by BioNTech and for a share of vaccine revenues.
