Slaughters, Davis Polk, Ropes line up on GSK’s $10.6bn biotech buy

Slaughter and May and Davis Polk are acting for pharmaceuticals giant GSK on its $10.6 billion acquisition of Boston-based biotech company Nuvalent.

The transaction will be one of GSK’s largest ever and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. The FTSE 100 drug company has closed a string of acquisitions since new CEO Luke Miels took over in January.

The deal will expand GSK’s oncology portfolio - Nuvalent is focused on precisely-targeted cancer therapies and best known for its late-stage lung cancer treatments.

Boston-headquartered Ropes & Gray is acting for the US biotech company, which was founded in 2017 and first floated on the Nasdaq in 2021.

Advising

Slaughter and May is acting on the UK aspects and financing of the acquisition, with corporate partners Simon Nicholls and Claire Jackson, and finance partner trio Guy O’Keefe, Claire Cooke and Kevin Howes advising.

Davis Polk is GSK’s US counsel. The team includes corporate partners William Chudd and Daniel Brass, executive compensation partner Jennifer Conway, IP partner David Bauer and tax partner William Curran, all based in New York. Washington DC-based competition partner Howard Shelanski is also advising.

The Ropes & Gray team advising Nuvalent is led by Boston-based M&A partner Emily Oldshue. 

The team includes Boston-based executive compensation partner Renata Ferrari, Silicon Valley-based IP transactions partner Megan Baca, competition partners Ruchit Patel and Mike McFalls, based in London and Washington DC respectively, San Francisco tax partner Ben Rogers, and DC-based life sciences regulatory partner Joshua Oyster.

Sidley Austin is Nuvalent’s corporate counsel. The team involved on this deal includes venture capital partners Rosemary Reilly, Craig Hilts and Rebecca Nauta, all based in Boston. Sidley also advised the company on an equity raise last year.