Trader’s Buzz: Ann Inc. (ANN), Altera Corp. (ALTR), Eleven Biotherapeutics. (EBIO), Alibaba Group (BABA), Durect (DRRX)

Shares of Ann Inc. (ANN) are higher by nearly 22% to $47.06 in premarket trading on Monday after Ascena Retail Group Inc. announced its plans to buy Ann Inc. for about $2.16 billion in a cash-and-stock deal.

Under the terms of the deal, Ann investors will receive $37.34 in cash and $0.68 of an Ascena share for every Ann share they hold, the companies said in a statement Monday. The $47-a-share offer represents a 21.4% premium over the closing price to Ann shares on Friday.

“With the addition of the Ann Taylor and LOFT brands, Ascena will become one of North America’s largest and most diversified specialty apparel retailers, with a tremendous set of opportunities to continue to expand its leadership position in the women’s apparel market,” commented Ascena CEO David Jaffe.

Altera Corp. (ALTR) shares surged 5.85% to $47.02 in premarket trading on Monday following a New York Post report suggesting Altera has resumed talks with Intel (INTC) about a potential $13 billion-plus buyout.

“You should not be surprised if a deal comes together quickly,” a source with direct knowledge of the talks told the publication, adding a resolution one way or the other was expected within a few weeks.

Earlier discussions on a deal fell through as the companies were unable to agree on a price, Reuters reported in April.

Shares of Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. (EBIO) are down $8.95, or 74.77%, at $3.02, after the company this morning said a late-stage trial of its lead drug candidate, EBI-005, a dry-eye disease treatment, failed to meet its primary endpoints. The company said there was no statistically significant difference between the group using its EBI-005 treatment and the control group on the co-primary, or any secondary endpoints.

“Based on these top-line results, the company does not see an immediate path forward for EBI-005 in dry eye disease, and we will not be initiating the second Phase 3 study of EBI-005 in dry eye disease that we had planned to start in the second half of this year,” stated Chief Executive Abbie Celniker.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) shares lost $0.94, or 1.06%, to $87.52 in premarket trading Monday following a USA Today report detailing news that luxury product maker Kering, which includes brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, has filed lawsuit against Alibaba over counterfeit goods.

The publication says the suit, filed in federal court in New York, charges Alibaba, among other things, with trademark infringement, counterfeiting, and false representation.

Durect Corporation (DRRX) shares climbed 8.51% to $2.55 in pre-market trading. The company announced this morning positive results from a Phase 1 clinical trial of DUR-928, showing that DUR-928 was well-tolerated at all dose levels. DUR-928 is an endogenous, small-molecule, new chemical entity, which may have broad applicability in metabolic diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

“Following our initial successful single-dose Phase 1 study with orally administered DUR-928, we now have generated additional safety data, including no drug accumulation in this multiple-ascending-dose Phase 1 trial and once again the healthy volunteers experienced no severe or serious drug-related adverse events,” commented James E. Brown, President and CEO of DURECT. “As we continue to progress with oral administration trials of DUR-928, we also plan to conduct Phase 1 trials during the second half of this year with injectable administration of DUR-928.”

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