ImClone Systems Inc. said a mystery bidder, which has tentatively offered a bid of $70 a share or $6.1 billion, has informed the company that it will either make a formal bid or withdraw from talks by the end of the day on Wednesday.
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The mystery bid came after Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. raised its
offer for the remainder of the oncology biotech company to $4.7
billion, or $62 per share cash, from a $60 offer launched July 31. The
unnamed bidder, which ImClone first alluded to Sept. 10, remains a
mystery. ImClone added that the identity of the party will be revealed
even if it withdraws its tentative bid. Of course all of the mystery
has the blogs and discussion boards chattering.
According to
DealBook and The Wall Street Journal, either Pfizer Inc. or Eli Lilly and Co. could be one of the mystery bidders for ImClone.
BNet's
Pharma Industry
seems to think that the suitor is probably Eli Lilly:
If [Eli Lilly] CEO John Lechleiter were to scoop up ImClone -- thus
bolting on the cancer specialist's pipeline to replace the absence of
its own -- it would be just the sort of dramatic act that he seems to
favor.
Either that or he's flailing around, looking for extra revenues from a
company that is failing to produce them. Right now it's hard to tell
which. After all, this is a company that hasn't produced a new drug in
three years.
A blogger over at
Pharmababble
addresses the mystery suitor:
Is this really the best use of your
$6.1B in cash?
While buying ImClone, splitting the revenue of Erbitux with
Bristol-Myers Squibb and dropping tens of millions on legal fee's for
control of IMC-11F8 sounds sarcastically attractive, are you sure this
is the best use of your capital. Buying ImClone may be a good
investment, just not the best alternative investment. There is a subtle
but important difference.
How about taking a stake in 20 innovative start-ups or licensing 100
promising compounds or buying 2 other midsize companies you already
share revenue with?
Investors are also getting in the action. Here is some of the latest Rabble Babble on the message boards:
ImClone's shares rose
3.3% to $65.50 Monday morning.
- Maria Woehr
