Shares of Intercept Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ICPT) are seeing explosive gains in Tuesday's trading following an announcement that the company is on track to be acquired by Alfasigma, a private Italian pharmaceuticals company. Intercept's share price was up 79% as of 1 p.m. ET today, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Alfasigma published a press release before the market opened today announcing that it had reached an agreement to acquire Intercept at a price of $19 per share. Before trading began today, the proposed acquisition price represented an 82% premium compared to Intercept's valuation.

Intercept is now trading at roughly $18.70 per share, which suggests that investors believe there's a very good chance that the buyout will be completed. Per the press release, the deal is expected to close before the end of this year. At current prices, Intercept offers just 1.6% upside if the deal is completed. 

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Source Fool.com