Covington Represents Biopharmaceutical Company UCB in Acquisition of Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc

NEW YORK—Covington represented UCB in its recently announced merger agreement with clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Ra Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a deal valued at US$ 2.1 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2020 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Ra Pharma’s shareholders and the satisfaction of regulatory approvals.

Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, UCB is focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. Ra Pharma is focused on leading the field of complement biology to bring innovative and accessible therapies to patients with rare diseases.

UCB General Counsel Bill Silbey and Vice President Legal Affairs Paul Thompson led the legal team. The Covington corporate team consisted of J. D. Weinberg, Kyle Rabe, Gustavo Akkerman, Lauren Shor, and Johanna Bachmair (corporate), Jenna Wallace and Christopher Lowther (employee benefits), Ansgar Simon, and Jon Endean (tax), James Dean and Miranda Cole (antitrust), Van Ellis, Jessica Milner, Alan Wang, and Katrina Cokleski (life sciences), Mike Labson, Peter Bogaert, Anna Zhao, and Charlotte Ryckman (regulatory), Libbie Canter and Hannah Lepow (privacy/cybersecurity) Heather Haberl (real estate), Don Elliott (environmental), Mona Patel (anti-corruption), Stefanie Doebler and Liza Khan (healthcare compliance), and Jennifer Plitsch and Bryan Byrd (government contracts).