UPDATE:Astellas Pharma Abandons Offer To Buy CV Therapeutics
16 March 2009 - 8:12PM
Dow Jones News
Astellas Pharma Inc. (4503.TO) said Monday it has decided to
withdraw its offer to buy U.S. biopharmaceutical company CV
Therapeutics Inc. (CVTX), ending what had turned into a hostile
takeover bid for the heart-drug maker which the Japanese firm saw
as a new revenue source.
The decision follows last week's emergence of U.S. firm Gilead
Sciences Inc. (GILD) as a white knight, proposing to buy CV
Therapeutics for $20 per share - totaling $1.4 billion - compared
with Astellas' offer of $16 per share.
In response, the Japanese pharmaceutical company could have
either raised its bid above $20 - adding at least $300 million more
to its original offer - or bow out.
It chose the latter, saying in a statement it "does not see
value for Astellas shareholders in CV Therapeutics at the price
level" proposed by Gilead.
Following the withdrawal, it will also pull out of a lawsuit in
the Delaware Chancery Court against CV Therapeutics and its
directors relating to the takeover bid.
Astellas had been seeking talks with CV Therapeutics for a
friendly takeover for some time, but was repeatedly rejected. It
finally launched its $16-a-share tender offer at the end of
February, with a total value of $1.1 billion.
Astellas' surrender is the latest example of a Japanese company
failing with an unsolicited bid for an overseas firm.
Last year, Massachusetts-based, semiconductor equipment maker
Axcelis Technologies Inc. rejected a sweetened unsolicited takeover
bid from Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. for $6 a share, or about
$613 million, saying the offer was too low. A prolonged battle
ensued, ending with Sumitomo abandoning its bid in September.
At a time when domestic rivals including Takeda Pharmaceutical
Co. (4502.TO) and Eisai Co. (4523.TO) were buying U.S.
biopharmaceutical companies last year to acquire new cancer drug
candidates, Astellas had hoped it would be able to generate several
years' worth of revenue growth by acquiring CV Therapeutics. It was
expecting that the deal would partly make up for expected declines
in U.S. sales of drugs whose patents have already expired.
Astellas was primarily interested in drugs CV Therapeutics
already markets - namely Ranexa for treating chronic angina and
Lexiscan for detecting coronary artery disease.
-By Hiroyuki Kachi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929;
hiroyuki.kachi@dowjones.com