Sepracor reportedly a buyout target

Japan drug maker Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. is preparing to launch a tender offer to buy Sepracor for $2.7 billion, or nearly $24 per share, according to media reports yesterday. Neither Sepracor nor Dainippon Sumitomo could be reached for comment.

But a Japanese newspaper, the Nikkei, first reported the Dainippon Sumitomo offer yesterday, and later news agency Reuters also reported the coming bid, citing “a source with knowledge of the situation.’’

Sepracor’s stock jumped 26 percent yesterday, to $22.80 per share on the Nasdaq stock exchange, before trading was halted in mid-afternoon. Osaka-based Dainippon Sumitomo closed at $10.99, down 3 percent yesterday on the Tokyo stock exchange. The Japanese drug company markets a number of medications, including an antipsychotic called Lonasen, and Amlodin and Avapro for hypertension.

If it does make an offer and ends up owning Sepracor, Dainippon Sumitomo would be the latest Japanese drug maker to buy a US drug company, taking advantage of the relatively strong yen to expand its reach. Last year, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. bought Cambridge-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals for $8.8 billion, the biggest deal in the history of the Massachusetts biotechnology industry. And Eisai bought MGI Pharma Inc. of Minnesota last year for $3.9 billion.

And at the price Dainippon Sumitomo is supposed to be bidding, it would also be one of the biggest merger deals in Massachusetts this year. In July, Hopkinton-based data stor age giant EMC agreed to buy Data Domain of Santa Clara, Calif. for $2.4 billion.

According to the reports and analysts, Dainippon Sumitomo is potentially interested in getting access to Sepracor’s US sales force. In June, the Japanese company said it would create a US holding company, to build a US sales force to help launch its experimental schizophrenia treatment, Lurasidone.

Last week Dainippon Sumitomo reported successful results for a late-stage trial of the drug, conducted in several countries. And if all goes well, the company could potentially start marketing the drug in the United States within two years, analysts say.

Sepracor has a sales force of 1,350 representatives that Dainippon Sumitomo could tap into.

“Overall, we believe the deal makes strategic sense for Dainippon Sumitomo,’’ said Cowen & Co. analyst Ian Sanderson, who is based in Boston, in a note to investors. He has an “outperform’’ rating on Sepracor.

Sepracor still earns the bulk of its revenue from Lunesta, an insomnia drug widely touted in commercials featuring a glowing Luna moth. But it also has a significant asthma treatment, Xopenex, and is seeking permission to market an epilepsy drug called Stedesa, which it acquired when it bought Oryx Pharmaceuticals last year for $50 million to $70 million.

Sepracor is expected to record sales of $1.27 billion this year, compared with $2.86 billion for Dainippon Sumitomo.

Sepracor has roughly 620 employees in Marlborough and promised to create 250 more jobs by 2017 in exchange for $7 million in state and local tax breaks. As part of its expansion plans, it recently finished a second building next to its corporate headquarters and has plans to eventually build a third structure in the 58-acre office park.

However, Sepracor also recently cut 940 jobs worldwide, including roughly 100 in Massachusetts, in an effort to trim costs and boost profits.

The company, which earned a profit of $44.9 million, was hurt last year by slowing growth for Lunesta and lower reimbursement rates for Xopenex because of competition from cheaper drugs.

Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@globe.com.