Eli Lilly is considering a takeover bid for ImClone of roughly $70 a share, which would value the cancer drug maker at $6.1bn and would trump Bristol-Myers’ $62 per-share unsolicited offer, according to a person close to the matter. ImClone said last month, in response to an initial offer from Bristol-Myers of $60 per share, that it was in takeover talks with another large pharmaceutical company that was willing to pay more. ImClone said the rival suitor, which it has not named, was reviewing its financial information with the company’s permission, and would either make its proposal or withdraw by midnight Wednesday. The move by ImClone, chaired by activist investor Carl Icahn, was seen as an effort to convince Bristol-Myers, which owns 17% of ImClone, to boost its offer, which it did, but only by $2 per share to $62, while also saying it would take the offer straight to ImClone’s shareholders and would try to remove ImClone’s board of directors.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 and is filed under M&A, People. Tagged with carl icahn, Eli Lilly, ImClone. Edit this entry.