UPDATE 3-Novartis begins tender offer for cancer-focused MorphoSys

(Adds MorhpoSys reaction, deal closing time frame in paragraphs 7-8)

BERLIN, April 11 (Reuters) - Novartis said on Thursday it has launched a tender offer to acquire MorphoSys , a German developer of cancer treatments, for an aggregate 2.7 billion euros ($2.9 billion).

Reuters reported in February that Swiss drugmaker Novartis would buy MorphoSys, which had an equity market value of around 1.6 billion euros before the offer was announced.

The Swiss drugmaker said its cash offer price of 68 euros per MorphoSys share corresponds to a premium of 142% on the volume-weighted average price during the last three months, as of the unaffected closing price on Jan. 25.

MorphoSys shares closed at 67.1 euros on April 10.

Novartis, which said the acceptance period begins on Thursday and will end at midnight on May 13, will take MorphoSys private after the deal, which is contingent on certain conditions, including a minimum acceptance threshold of 65%.

MorphoSys, which is headquartered in Planegg, Germany, develops drugs to fight deadly forms of cancers such as myelofibrosis, which is a rare type of bone marrow cancer, and certain types of knotty lymphomas.

The German firm's supervisory and management boards recommended that shareholders accept the offer, saying it would boost its oncology offering.

Both companies expect the deal to close in the first half of this year.

Switzerland's Novartis has been cutting jobs and costs, and spun off its generic drugs business Sandoz last year, part of a focus on fewer therapeutic areas and geographic markets.

It has said its overall mergers and acquisitions strategy was focused on deals worth less than $5 billion.

Novartis said Deutsche Bank is acting as share tender agent and Bank of New York Mellon will serve as American Depository Shares (ADS) tender agent for the offer. ($1 = 0.9307 euros) (Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Rachel More, Andrey Sychev and Alexander Smith)