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Hello ATHX board, I grabbed a small long term position here lets see how this plays out...
I sold half and going to let the other half ride. That made the most sense to me. I see three things that can happen.
1. Deal goes through and our shares get tendered. ( no one knows when funds become available )
2. Deal falls apart shares head back to 4 or worse.
3. Deal needs is sweetened and more $$ is offered to attract more shareholders to tender their shares or another bidder comes aboard and offers more.
Don't make no sense for me at this point to not sell half, im already taking almost .50 loss pps at 8.50 on a few thousand shares. I feel cheated over 10 years I supported this company as many here have we kept it alive and running through thick and thin and when we start to see light at the end of the tunnel we have our technology that can save sight & lives stolen away by a pharmaceutical company with inside help that's not even located in the United States... Some bend over deal we got! I feel bad selling half my position as I never sold any before but enough is enough on taking losses on a company who don't care about us at all IMO.
Angry investors say Ocata Therapeutics undervalued in sale.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/12/13/sale-pioneering-stem-cell-company-has-kicked-storm-among-biotech-investors/mm3BQ4hfgwUwXkRtBOZROK/story.html?p1=Article_Recommended_ArticleText
Executives struck a triumphant tone last month when Ocata Therapeutics Inc., of Marlborough, said it had agreed to be sold to the Japanese drug maker Astellas Pharma Inc., in a $379 million deal that promised a nearly 80 percent premium over Ocata’s share price.
But shareholders at Ocata, a 21-year-old biotech long seen as a pioneer in the emerging field of regenerative medicine, have reacted to the buyout with bitter disappointment.
A large stockowner has hired consultants to seek alternative bids for Ocata, formerly called Advanced Cell Technology Inc. Many are grousing on an investor website that the company was undervalued and its new management unresponsive. Other investors have urged congressmen, regulators, and even President Obama to halt the acquisition to protect key technology.
“My impression is the value should be at least double” what Astellas has agreed to pay based just on the sales potential of its lead drug to prevent the loss of eyesight, said Gary Aronson, an investor from Incline Village, Nev., who said he is Ocata’s largest individual stockowner, with 1.5 million shares. “The company has tremendous potential and we were hoping that they would be able to better develop that potential without selling the company.”
But now that management has made the decision to sell, Aronson said he thinks the price should be higher. He has retained a pair of industry veterans who have contacted more than two dozen biopharma companies, inviting them to submit competing bids for Ocata.
Many seem to be studying the possibility, while seven have declined, Aronson said. But they are working against a deadline of Dec. 15, when investors have been asked to tender their shares to Astellas to sell them at the specified price of $8.50 a share under the terms of the deal.
At issue is not only the sale price for Ocata, which has about 35 employees, but also its intellectual property in embryonic stem cells. Such cells can grow others that Ocata initially hopes to implant in the eyes of patients suffering from macular degeneration. But they also hold potential for treating conditions ranging from diabetes to heart disease to spinal cord injury.
'If you look at the deal, Astellas is paying nothing for this. [Ocata Therapeutics] management is giving the company away.’
Edward Assad, Ocata shareholder
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“This was at least a billion-dollar company,” said Edward Assad, a shareholder from Monticello, Fla. “They’ve got a treatment for lupus, a treatment for multiple sclerosis . . . If you look at the deal, Astellas is paying nothing for this. Management is giving the company away.”
The sale has been denounced in apocalyptic terms on InvestorStemCell, a website frequented by Ocata shareholders who warn of the dangers of transferring its technology abroad.
“What government would allow a proprietary science [like stem cells] to be sold to a foreign power?” asked a disgruntled writer with the Internet handle BF. “What this tells the world is pretty much any . . . trade secrets are open to be bought or taken from this country.”
Longtime investors, including many cell biologists and their associates, have an almost cult-like reverence for Robert Lanza, Ocata’s bearded chief scientific officer, who is considered one of the world’s leading authorities in stem cell biology and tissue engineering. Late last year, Lanza and his colleagues published an article in the Lancet, a leading scientific journal, offering evidence of the effectiveness and safety of stem cell progeny in treating diseases.
Lanza, who joined Ocata’s predecessor company in 1999, hasn’t commented publicly on the agreement to be acquired by Astellas. In an e-mail, he said he was prevented by US securities laws from talking until the deal has been completed. He said Astellas asked him to remain with the company after the buyout “but I need more information before I can make a final decision.”
Ocata’s chief executive, Paul Wotton, who took over last year and is the chief target of many of the company’s critics, declined through a spokesman to comment. The spokesman cited a confidentiality clause in the acquisition deal.
Founded in 1994, Ocata’s predecessor, Advanced Cell Technology, gained early notoriety in the emerging field of cloning. In 2001, it reported creating the first human embryos through cloning, though it later acknowledged many had died. The following year, it said it found a way to trick unfertilized monkey eggs into growing as if they were impregnated. Independent scientists suggested the company overstated its claims. In recent years, Ocata has focused on creating red blood cells for transfusions and developing drugs based on cell therapy.
Ocata has attracted some institutional investors, including BlackRock Inc. But its shares, which traded as high as $12 last year, tumbled as low as $3.06 this year. One factor cited by shareholders was an anonymous short seller who leveled criticism at the company on investment sites under the name Mako Research.
Shareholders say communications with Ocata’s management were strong in the past but have deteriorated under Wotton. Despite his large stake in the company, Aronson said, he has never been able to set up a face-to-face meeting with the chief executive.
“I made a number of suggestions on how the company should go,” Aronson said, referring to e-mail exchanges, “and maybe he [Wotton] didn’t like my suggestions.”
In a conference call with investors on Nov. 9, Wotton reviewed the company’s efforts to commercialize its technology but gave no hint it was considering a sale. Shareholders said they were blindsided when the Astellas deal was announced that evening.
It’s still not clear if the purchase will be completed. Many investors have indicated on InvestorStemCell that they don’t plan to tender their shares, though others say they sold some or all of their holdings when the stock climbed after the takeover was disclosed. If there is no other bidder, shareholders who register for an appraisal in the coming week could challenge the acquisition value of Ocata in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Ocata is incorporated in Delaware.
A group of shareholders is trying to block the deal outright. Writing on behalf of a constituent, US Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, last month asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the transaction. And investors have urged Obama to block the deal and keep Ocata’s patents under the US umbrella
Sorry I am a bit confused I see you been suggesting that we should tender our shares due to Astellas probably going to back out and the shares will drop to 3.00 from your brokers own DD. Yet then I see statements like,
"Again, yeah it is always possible Astellas might offer a buck or so more to sweeten the offer, but I can't imagine all of a sudden companies lining up to get into a bidding war to buy this company at any cost."
I start wondering why you would go from thinking this is going to $3.00 to it might go to $9.50? I personally think its a pretty much done deal at $8.50 and we longs got the shaft for our many years of support. ( Hey that's the American way anymore! ) Anyways the only thing I'm not sure about is what's cheaper to let Astellas buy my shares at 8.50 from my brokerage account if I didn't tender or selling them and paying the trade and commission fee??
This might be a stupid question but if one of you can answer would be nice to know.
If I was to sell now I would get 8.45 a share and have to pay trade and commission fees. If I wait I get at least 8.50 pps + get out of paying trade & commission fees, is my thinking correct?
So if we wait and we get cashed out does that mean we don't have to pay the trade and commission fee?
If I was to sell now I would get 8.45 a share and have to pay trade and commission fees. If I wait I get at least 8.50 pps + get out of paying fees is my thinking correct?
States that Pfizer could have Wet AMD cure on the market in 2 years and Dry AMD soon after. Now that's fast tracking! Don't look good for OCAT they wont be out of Phase 2 on the trials before Pfizer has Wet & Dry already on the market.
Very sad I thought this science was going to work and folks be able to get cures but after Wall Street sniffed at it looks like they are sending it back to penny land where failed science and scams belong. Cant believe the FDA and SEC would let a company openly lie and scam its shareholders like this.
If im wrong then the only other thing I can think of is its big pharma & hedge fund bait for the patent portfolio...
What gets me is if this was already proven to work on animals so well why are they not making a killing in the Vet sector?
Sad, if these threes don't hold this could be a buck fifty by Christmas. I never dreamed going to the NASDAQ was going to wipe us out in under a year but that's whats happening...
So we got Gary and crew in the background probably shorting the stock into oblivion while Trump works to destroy the republican vote base and the Clintons move back into the WH...
Man things looking crappy for the next few years!
I sent in one! Thanks Capt for the links.
3.55 painted whats going on?
Well I thought price was to go up before the CC and then crash after... That's what normally happens, be pretty nasty if it crashes on top of steep losses driving this into the 5s.
Its been a nice steady climb with a few pull backs almost text book hope it keeps it up!
Odd I cant seem to open the video says private.
I have a hard time understanding the concern about an embryo that would have been terminated over 10 years ago missing 1 cell when the embryo was going to be destroyed, but instead the one cell was removed and had billions soon to be trillions of cells created to save LIFE & better the life's of only GOD knows how many in the near future.
Not just that but the 7 celled embryo can still be fertilized and mature normally into a healthy human being. Its almost like the parents of a sick child not allowing a simple surgery to save their child's life instead letting the young child pass away because they believed it was GODs will. When I see it as GOD brought the doctor into those parents life's to save their child...
We knew a nice steady climb would include a few pull backs if OCAT closes green tomorrow it be looking nice for another small leg up before some more profit taking IMO.
Well if they are not talking about OCAT we had same results back in 2006 almost 10 years ago with mice and other animals. These guys have lot of catching up to do IMO...
Nice few trading days for OCAT!
"But the thing to keep in mind is that investing in biotech stocks isn't like buying a share of Apple or General Motors. These stocks have the potential to go to the moon... or quickly head towards zero when trial results don't go their way."
Just thought I share a quote from an article about the Biotech sector on Yahoo!/Finance that I felt sums up investing in OCAT nicely.
Time will tell! My money is on OCAT...
I can agree with you there!
"Many companies have been blindsided by unexpected discoveries"
So you saying that if another company blindsides us by an unexpected discovery that will give them a FDA pass? Must be one hell of a discovery to get FDA approval with no Phase 1, 2 or three testing...
Thanks for the well written observation!
I believe you are correct! I am curious as well...
If you didn't sell right before or during the CC then that's to late... ( If that's your game that is )
Management of course but I still feel they should have to earn it. Whats going on now is they get rewarded for doing their job IMO that they already receive pretty decent compensation for, I agree that a milestone was reached great that should be rewarded but how many times now shares was passed out like candy when if anything some of those receiving should had been being fined or removed...
Be nice if they had to earn those no?
LOL I hope not but I bet by 2020 everyone here will be happy campers. I have watched this biotech survive what folds most companies in just a couple of years and it gives me hope that they will hopefully be the 1st biotech to treat and cure with FDA approved stem cells. The science works there is proof of it all over the world and OCAT holds a LOT of pretty nifty patents that's going to make them a Major Player in the ground breaking medical science that's occurring & about to occur on a much broader scale.
ROTFLMAO! I am on the side lines on this one but my gut tells me we might have got through the hard times and should creep upwards until news I just hope that news is good... ( Up-list, Finance = good ) ( NO uplist or financing = bad )
COMEON OCAT!!!
Lot of neat stuff popping up in the 3d Bioprinting world & stem cells are the key...
http://textually.org/3DPrinting/cat_printable_organs.html
http://www.healthcanal.com/bones-muscles/41612-scientists-%E2%80%98grow%E2%80%99-new-cartilage-with-help-of-3d-printing-technology.html
http://www.designboom.com/technology/3d-printed-organs-from-regenerative-living-cells/
They be growing much more than just kidneys you better get your seatbelt ready, over time even the heartless will be able to receive a heart...
The truth is good real good but using snippets and partial truths with light and mirrors is quite deceiving...
I would like to see those links as well.
Mind1 you serious about thinking every one want stems to succeed? Many right wing religious types think the science is playing GOD, then you have the billion dollar industry who will get crushed when stem cells go mainstream. That's the two main groups then you have ones who would love to steal the science to benefit their own greedy needs controlling our health would be like controlling water and food...
tell me how I lose my investment in humankind if the science goes on to cure? Its not just blindness it will cure so so much more no I wont lose we all will win this cant be stopped 8)
I guess you can say some give tithes to church I give mine to science.
I AGREE 100% that the science will live and the money I put in will further the science!! So what if OCAT don't hit the finish line the SCIENCE WILL and you are fooling your self if you think all on this board wants it to succeed because that it absolutely WRONG there are many who wish stems would go away so they can continue to reap profits from Pharma drugs that don't cure jack and keeps one dependent and their wallets fat.
Thanks, your words inspired me to invest another 2k today towards humankind thru OCAT science that will one day benefit us all. If I get a reward at the end of the day for my investments here that would be just awesome but in all honesty just seeing stems curing and moving forward and being a little part of is even more exciting to me. No matter how much one wishes for this science to disappear its not going to its going to continue to move forward it will change the lives of every person on this planet for the better so I say buckle up your seatbelt because its coming...
As we are sitting in the 5s one would think it surly has to be baked in, not even the nay Sayers are calling this in the 2s be honest here if this sinks into the 2s or below game over for OCAT TBH to many things are better today than they was in the past for this to fold now. If it was planned you know as well as I back in the middle of the year last year this would had gone belly up if they wanted that. Instead they did the opposite, so I say its more than baked in at our current PPS...
Sounds fine & dandy for any future shares but the shares I hold now will be doing just that holding in my account for their demise or take off...
None of this hogwash on the board will get me to sell them either!