The ongoing unsolicited bid by Bristol-Myers Squibb was boosted by $2-per-share for the portion of ImClone it doesn’t already own. Activist investor Carl Icahn continues to voice his dissatisfaction.
The pharmaceutical giant has increased the value of the potential deal by about $200 million to $4.6 billion. Bristol’s original offer of $60-per-share was seen as much lower than Bristol was willing to pay or able to afford.
ImClone’s chairman, activist investor Carl Icahn, rejected the initial offer and disclosed that another pharmaceutical company made a tentative bid of $70-per-share. Icahn and Bristol’s CEO James Cornelius, have exchanged letters voicing each other’s dissatisfaction, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Cornelius made a public letter to Icahn acknowledging that Bristol’s initial bid for ImClone was “inadequate,” thus raising its bid to $62-per-share. “I think to some degree they’re making a statement about the $70-a-share offer,” said Seamus Fernandez to WSJ, a Leerink Swann analyst. “They don’t think that offer is completely valid.”
In a shareholder’s meeting earlier this month, Icahn acknowledged that ImClone would likely be sold, but stressed that $60-per-share was too low a price, according to WSJ. Bristol’s new bid is not expected to expedite the sale, but is the next step in a strategic battle between the two companies. Bristol wants the deal to be made on its own terms.