BERLIN (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.