Just as new outbreaks of chikungunya threaten to become another epidemic, Bavarian Nordic, maker of a vaccine against the mosquito-borne virus, has entered discussions of a potential buyout.
Bavarian Nordic confirmed Thursday that the company is in talks with private equity firms Nordic Capital and Permira about a potential takeover bid for the Danish drugmaker.
The discussions remain ongoing, and “there can be no certainty” as to whether any offer will be made and its timing, Bavarian said. Such an acquisition would take the Nasdaq Copenhagen-listed company private.
The company’s stock price rose more than 21% late Thursday morning.
Bavarian Nordic makes Vimkunya, a chikungunya vaccine approved by the U.S. FDA in April for protection among individuals 12 years of age and above. The company in June started a phase 3 trial of the shot in children 2 to 11 years of age, with results expected in the first half of 2028.
Revelation of the deal talks emerged just as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that urgent actions are needed to prevent the escalation of a new wave of chikungunya outbreaks.
“We are seeing history repeating itself,” Diana Rojas Alvarez, a medical officer at the WHO and arbovirus team lead with the organization, said during a press briefing, referring to the 2004-05 chikungunya epidemic, as quoted by Reuters.
Outbreaks have been spotted in the same Indian Ocean areas that were previously hit, including La Reunion, Mayotte and Mauritius, spreading to Madagascar, Somalia and Kenya. Southeast Asian countries and France have reported alarming transmissions. And China is experiencing the country’s biggest chikungunya outbreak since the virus first emerged in the mainland about two decades ago.
Valneva’s Ixchiq, another FDA-approved chikungunya shot, is cleared only in adults. The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently paused Ixchiq’s use in people 60 years of age and older following reports of some serious adverse events, including two deaths.
To expand access to Vimkunya, Bavarian has partnered with Biological E to manufacture and supply the vaccine to endemic low- and middle-income countries.
This isn’t the first time Bavarian has found itself at the forefront of a global health crisis. The company has been supplying global governments, including the U.S., with its mpox and smallpox vaccine Jynneos, which played an important countermeasure role during a 2022 mpox outbreak.
As of July 9, Bavarian has secured more than 3 billion Danish kroner ($473 million) worth of Jynneos contracts for public preparedness efforts in 2025.
In 2024, Bavarian Nordic reported 5.72 billion Danish kroner (about $900 million) in revenue. In the first quarter of 2025, revenue surged 62% to 1.35 billion Danish kroner.
As of early May, the company was expecting Vimkunya's full-year revenue to fall between 50 million Danish kroner and 100 million Danish kroner in 2025.
Meanwhile, Nordic Capital appears to be in an acquisitive mood, targeting the healthcare industry. The private equity firm recently acquired healthcare data analytics company Arcadia after bowing out of potential buyout talks with biotech platform entity PureTech Health.