Basel, Switzerland's Novartis AG completed its tender offer for all outstanding shares of AveXis Inc., priced $218 per share.

At the expiration of the offer, 30,368,057 AveXis shares, or about 82.48% of the company's outstanding common shares, were tendered. Notices of guaranteed delivery were delivered regarding 1,058,258 additional AveXis shares, or about 2.87% of its outstanding shares.

Novartis is acquiring AveXis for $8.7 billion, and has secured antitrust clearance for the deal. Following completion, AveXis will be a wholly owned unit of Novartis, and its common stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq global select market.

The deal will help Novartis bulk up its neuroscience and gene therapy offering.