Disappointing for sure.
Capping all the upside for current shareholders is contingent on milestones?
Shareholders could also receive additional contingent payments totaling up to $100 million if Esperion meets certain sales targets in the coming years, the companies said…
That’s an additional up to ~$0.28/sh, potentially.
I have sold all but about 15%…keeping for a week or so to see if (longshot) bidding war kicks in. Otherwise, moving the eff on.
This one ends a chapter more akin to ESTC than to TTD or SPG.
It still finishes as a winner for me, as my cost basis (thanks to mid-2025) was below $2, and I had recently bought about 20% more shares after having sold at (roughly) $2.65, 3.17, 3.50, 3.65 at different points from last Fall to earlier this year, when it was thankfully higher. Bought back again about 2-3 weeks ago as it neared and dipped below $2.
I had literally just raised cash to buy more (sold TTD) and was hoping to get ESPR below $1.75.
Overall, I may have done better than this, as I would have to factor in all the buy/sell points along the way, and I haven’t really kept track well. In a nutshell, it looks like my CAGR was at least 20% from about Nov 2023 to now.
Not bad, but pretty crappy compared to what the market was doing during that time.
Barring some weird news swerves, this is my semi-last post here. Moving on, and probably retiring from biotech for good. Or, at least, reverting back to a huge focus on QUALITY of mgmt and/or founder-led companies. Esperion mgmt is/was absolutely horrid for shareholders.
Dreamer
I plan on keeping it a bit longer. At a minimum just to vote all of my shares against this acquisition but Im also hoping for an increased bid over the next couple of months. My opinion will change if I find a different stock to dump money into.
This CEO and board seem to be able to make one terrible deal after another. This same cast of characters just bought Corstasis for 75MM and up to180 MM in milestone payments. Corstasis is basically pre-revenue whereas its not unreasonable to believe ESPR will do 500MM+ in revenue in 2026 when you include the OMERS and Athyrium royalty payments. By 2030, with all of the royalty payments returned, they should be doing well over 1Billion in sales. The difference in valuation that they have assigned ESPR versus Corstasis is mindboggling. It would be nice to see the video feed from the board of directors meetings where they debated the acquisition and then being acquired.
This will look like an even worse deal if the CVR milestones hit
I also find it incredible that this deal came together like this.. they bought Corstasis in the beginning of March.. probably started on that one in Jan/Feb.. they sold the Japanese royalties at the beginning of April for not a great deal.. 2.0x versus 1.7x before. From basically the middle of Sept 2025 to the end of March 2026 the stock price was at a high enough level that this would not have been a decent offer at all. I find it all super fishy.
Anyhow.. Im keeping all of my shares for a while and going to see how it plays out. I would have been disappointed in an offer ~2Billion range.. but I wouldnt have been as annoyed as this one. Ive done solid on the stock through options etc but was planning on holding it through all of the royalty payments returning back.. I had modeled it to a $20+ stock by 2030.
Thanks Dreamer for bringing it to the board I wouldnt have found it without yah and it at least provided for some reading entertainment over the last 1.5 years.
Yeah - this one goes into the JFK and UFO files: we will never likely get the truth but we know some things dont add up.
I think my cagr was better than first thought, but not sure i have the patience (or interest) to comb thru all the buys and sells and do the math. 
Dreamer
I’m still holding due to the potential CVR. You have to own the shares when the merger becomes effective to get the CVR. Upon mrger the shares convert to cash + CVR. Max CVR is $100M. Not sure what the share count is, I’ve seen 200-257M shares. So potentially worth $0.39-0.50 per share.
Up to $40M if cholesterol drug sales exceed $350M in 2027
Up to $60M if the nasal spray reaches $160M sales by 2030.
It’s a long time to wait for the money but the deal is supposed to close some time in Q3. Then the cash is free and the potential CVR is locked.
I don’t have anything that I want to do with the money right now. I’m actually selling down some positions currently.
My cost basis is 1.92 which is also the first buy price on 4.26.24. Cost basis is 1.67 if i factor in the profits from trading around the position. My last two sales were 3.96 on 11.26.25 and 3.03 way back on 12.2.24. Obviously selling all of it on either day woudl have been better options. I did add ~10% on Apr 7 and Apr 21 at 2.21 and 1.89.
Anyway, bottom line for me - CVR turns my 64% total return into 85-91%.
The fact that it was north of $4 only four months ago and they took a buyout at 3.16 is pathetic. It literally traded above 3.16 every day except two from Nov 25 to Mar 3.
Sold remaining.
Thus ends a profitable but underwhelming chapter.
I built up my patience and balls of
steel thru this process. So theres that.
I am sure they likely get a
better bid now that i finally sold. 
Maybe someday i will ironically wind up on BA, once insurance cooperates.
Goodbye Forever, esperion…
Dreamer