French biotech firm Cellectis jumps on takeover hopes

(Adds background, Cellectis no comment, updates shares)

May 29 (Reuters) - Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in French cancer drugmaker Cellectis hit an all-time high on Friday on hopes it would be the latest in a string of bid targets in the healthcare sector, after reported interest from companies including Pfizer .

The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, said Cellectis was in potential sale talks with a few suitors, including U.S.-based Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - news) , although no outcome was certain.

Shares in the group jumped as much as 11 percent before paring some gains to stand 5.8 percent higher by 0900 GMT, valuing the business at just under 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion).

A Pfizer spokesman declined to comment on the takeover talk, which he described as "rumour and speculation".

A Cellectis spokeswoman said by email that the company does not comment on market rumours.

Pfizer acquired a 9.5 percent stake in Cellectis when the two companies linked up on a collaboration to develop cancer drugs last year.

Since then, Cellectis has listed itself on the Nasdaq, raising $228 million through the sale of American Depository shares in March.

Cellectis works in the hot area of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell, or CAR (HKSE: 0699.HK - news) -T, therapy, a cell-based treatment that taps into the body's immune system to fight tumours.

Its research, which is still at an early stage, involves engineered cells from a single donor for use in multiple patients.

This so-called allogeneic approach is in contrast to other autologous technologies that rely on engineering a patient's own T-cells. Cellectis hopes to make it possible to treat cancer using a standardised, off-the-shelf therapeutic product.

The healthcare sector has seen a record $240 billion of deals so far this year, up 68 percent on the year-ago period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

On May 20, Cellectis appointed investment banker Jean Marie-Messier, one of France's best known businessmen and the former chief of media group Vivendi, to its board.

Messier followed the traditional route of the country's political and business elite from its grandes ecoles schooling system into senior civil service posts and then investment banking before joining the corporate world. He now runs the boutique investment bank, Messier Maris & Associes.

The French government's Bpifrance sovereign wealth fund holds about 8.7 percent of Cellectis.

($1 = 0.9140 euros) (Reporting by Ankush Sharma, Ben Hirschler, Andrew Callus and Noelle Mennella. Editing by Jane Merriman)