By Colin Kellaher

Shares of F-star Therapeutics Inc. surged nearly 60% on Thursday after the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company agreed to be acquired by a unit of Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd. for about $161 million.

Sino Biopharm's invoX unit is paying $7.12 a share in cash for F-star, nearly 79% above Wednesday's closing price of $3.98 for the U.K.-based company.

The purchase price is below F-star's 52-week high of $9.38 reached last July but well above the all-time low of $2.07 the stock hit in February.

The deal is slated to close in the second half of the year.

F-star shares were recently changing hands at $6.26, up 57.3%.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2022 10:46 ET (14:46 GMT)