Samsung Biologics has agreed to buy PolyPeptide Group, a Swiss manufacturer of peptide drug ingredients, for about $1.8 billion in the largest acquisition in South Korean pharmaceutical history.
The deal takes the world's biggest contract drugmaker directly into the supply chain behind weight-loss medicines such as GLP-1 treatments, the class of drugs that includes Ozempic and Wegovy.
Samsung is offering SFr44.30 ($54.90) a share in cash, a 6.1% premium to PolyPeptide's Friday close and roughly 40% above where the stock traded before takeover speculation surfaced in April.
Samsung Biologics shares fell as much as 3.3% in Seoul on Monday, though they outperformed a broader Korean market that dropped more sharply.
PolyPeptide is one of the world's leading makers of peptide-based active pharmaceutical ingredients, the short chains of amino acids at the heart of the new generation of obesity and diabetes drugs.
The acquisition hands Samsung six production and research sites across Sweden, Belgium, France, the US and India, along with a specialist workforce of around 1,500 people.
That footprint matters because demand for peptide manufacturing capacity has surged as drugmakers race to supply GLP-1 therapies, with the global peptide contract manufacturing market projected to reach roughly $27 billion by 2035.
The deal marks a strategic shift for Samsung Biologics, a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) that produces drugs on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.
Its business has until now centred on antibody medicines made in vast facilities in Incheon.
Morgan Stanley analyst Mi Hyun Kim said the acquisition supports Samsung's expansion beyond those traditional antibody-focused operations at a time of rising demand for GLP-1 treatments.
Samsung said combining its large-scale biologics capabilities with PolyPeptide's expertise would create an end-to-end platform spanning antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates and peptides.
PolyPeptide's board has unanimously recommended the offer.
Its largest shareholder, Draupnir Holdings, which controls 55.6% of the company and has links to Swedish billionaire Frederik Paulsen, has committed to tendering its entire stake.
The tender offer requires acceptance from at least two-thirds of shares to succeed, a threshold Draupnir's commitment goes most of the way toward meeting.
Peter Wilden, PolyPeptide's chair, called the offer "a transformational opportunity to accelerate our strategic ambitions at a scale we could not reach alone."
The tender offer is expected to launch by the end of August, with the deal closing by the end of the year subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.
PolyPeptide will then be delisted from the SIX Swiss Exchange and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Biologics.
The company said it would pursue a squeeze-out of any remaining minority shareholders once the offer completes.
For Samsung, the purchase is a decisive bet that the appetite for weight-loss drugs, and the specialised manufacturing they require, still has years of growth ahead.
