By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Bellus Health Inc. nearly doubled in premarket trading Tuesday after the late-clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company agreed to be acquired by U.K. drug major GSK PLC for about $2 billion.

GSK said it would pay $14.75 a share in cash for Bellus, more than double Monday's closing price of $7.26 for U.S.-listed shares of the Laval, Quebec, company.

Bellus shares also are listed in Canada, and the deal consideration equates to roughly 19.71 Canadian dollars, also more than double Monday's closing price of C$9.71 for Toronto-listed shares of Bellus.

The deal is slated to close by the third quarter.

U.S.-listed shares of Bellus were recently up 98% to $14.34 in premarket trading.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 18, 2023 06:09 ET (10:09 GMT)

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