This record is sourced from an Exhibit 99.1 press release furnished with NanoString's Form 8-K filed March 12, 2024 (dated March 10, 2024), describing the stalking-horse agreement as "a major step in financial restructuring" within the ongoing Chapter 11 case. At the time of this filing, the transaction was a signed stalking-horse agreement pending Bankruptcy Court approval of bidding procedures (a hearing was scheduled for March 28, 2024) and subject to higher or better competing bids.
Perella Weinberg Partners L.P. served as NanoString's restructuring investment banker throughout the Chapter 11 process, per the release's statement "The Company is represented by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP as counsel, AlixPartners LLP as restructuring advisor and Perella Weinberg Partners L.P. as restructuring investment banker." On the buy side, Greenhill & Co served as investment banker to Patient Square Capital, per "Patient Square is represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP as counsel and Greenhill & Co as investment banker."
On the legal side, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP represented NanoString, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP represented Patient Square Capital.
The agreement provided for Bankruptcy Court-approved bidding procedures permitting the submission of higher or otherwise better offers, with the deadline for competing offers requested to be set for April 12, 2024 and a sale-approval hearing requested for April 22, 2024; the transaction remained subject to expiration of the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust waiting period.
Not disclosed in the sourced document is whether Patient Square's $220 million stalking-horse bid was ultimately the winning bid in the court-supervised auction (a separate April 2024 announcement reviewed separately shows Bruker Corporation, not Patient Square, ultimately acquired the NanoString assets for approximately $392.6 million), nor any outcome of the underlying 10x Genomics patent litigation.