Shire’s shareholders just don’t want a deal with Baxalta, especially not if it involves cash. Every time the drug maker closes in on another takeover bid for the US rare diseases firm, its share price plunges.
The FTSE 100 company, which slumped 210p to 4,089p yesterday, is said to have held talks with Baxalta over a second bid, having been rebuffed by Baxalta in August, just six weeks after it was spun out of Baxter.
After snapping up US biotech firm Dyax for $5.9bn (£3.9bn) last month, its chief executive Flemming Ornskov insisted Shire had not given up the chase for Baxalta.
On the previous terms, Shire’s all-share bid is worth $31.40 a share after a 30 per cent fall from the stock, making it around $6 cheaper than Baxalta’s share price. Investors expect a renewed bid to involve cash and shares.
The natural resources-heavy FTSE 100 extended its losing streak to eight sessions, closing down 78.72 points at a three-year low of 5,874.06 after another rout for commodity prices, which saw Brent crude oil lose 38 cents to $37.55 a barrel, near 11-year lows.
Miners dominated the biggest fallers, with Glencore the heaviest hit, down 5.37p at 80p, and Anglo American 12.15p lower at 280.8p.
Among the few blue-chip risers was InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the owner of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, which picked up 16p to 2,511p after rival Accor snapped up the parent of Raffles and Fairmont in a $2.9bn deal. The City hopes IHG will be the next to be swept up by the wave of takeover activity in the hotels industry.
The FTSE 250, which is far less exposed to global forces, remains 4 per cent higher this year, compared with the FTSE 100’s 10 per cent dive.
On the mid-cap index, RPC rose 18.5p to a record high for the packaging group of 782.5p as it snapped up French bottle-top maker GCS Group from private equity firm PAI Partners for €650m (£473m).
Meanwhile, a profit warning from Tribal and a planned rights issue to raise £35m for the education services group, still without a chief executive, saw it plummet 26.88p to 27.5p.
By Jamie Nimmo
Source: The Independent
Giovanni Caforio, the former CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb, is set to become the next board chairman of Novartis, which on Tuesday proposed the pharmaceutical industry veteran as its pick to replace Joerg Reinhardt in the role next year. Reinhardt has served as Novartis’ chair since 2013 and plans to retire when his 12-year term ends in 2025.
GE HealthCare has raised the curtain on two ultrasound systems equipped with artificial intelligence programs designed to assist in diagnosing conditions in women’s health, including obstetric exams. The Voluson Signature 20 and 18 imaging systems include AI tools capable of automatically identifying and annotating measurements of fetal anatomy.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Chemistry have revealed a new sustainable method of manufacturing complex molecules that could reduce waste produced during drug production. The method published in Nature Chemistry could help to prevent severe side effects caused by drugs that can exist as enantiomers.
