Cooley Advised Silence Therapeutics on Agreement to Be Acquired By Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany for $1.3 Billion
Cooley advised London-headquartered, NASDAQ-listed Silence Therapeutics, a global clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision engineered medicines using its proprietary siRNA technology, on its agreement to be acquired by leading science and technology company Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in an all-cash transaction with an equity value of approximately $1.3 billion, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Under the terms of the agreement, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of Silence. Upon completion of the transaction, Silence shareholders will receive $20.00 in cash per American Depositary Share (“ADS”), with each ADS representing three ordinary shares of Silence, a 130% premium to the Silence ADS closing price on Friday, October 16, 2026. The transaction, once completed, will add Divesiran ─ a potentially best-in-class, phase 3-ready siRNA investigational therapy, in development for phlebotomy-dependent polycythemia vera (PV) ─ to Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s pipeline.
The transaction was announced publicly in this press release.
William Sorabella, Claire Keast-Butler, Rita Sobral, Russell Anderson, Courtney Thorne, Michael Bergmann, Nicola Squire, Megan Browdie, Caroline Hobson, and Kyle Hess led the team advising Silence Therapeutics.
Eileen Marshall, David Wilson, Chris Lynn, Carly Mitchell, Frances Stocks Allen, Annie Froehlich, Dillon Martinson, Guadalupe Sampedro, Chris Stack, Natasha Leskovsek, Jack Jones, Jennifer Shanley, Jessica Koffel, Philip Whitehead, Mark Jones, Arthur Courroy, Alison Kimball, Denny Xu, Hardy Zhou, Arda Tekin, Anna Caro, Jennifer Ok, Bethan Chalmers, Nicollette Kirby, and Eerik Kukebal provided invaluable support.
Cooley has advised Silence Therapeutics since 2019, including on its direct listing on Nasdaq, multiple follow-on offerings and its strategic pharma collaborations.
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