J&J ups its offer to acquire Actelion

JOHNSON & Johnson’s talks to acquire Swiss drugmaker Actelion are progressing after the world’s biggest health-care products maker raised its offer, people with knowledge of the matter said last week.

After Actelion rejected an initial proposal – valued at about $246 (R3 391) a share – as too low, J&J raised the bid to more than $250 per share, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The exact price couldn’t be determined.

Actelion closed at 204 Swiss francs (R2 781) on Friday in Zurich, giving the company a market value of about 22 billion Swiss francs. The American depositary receipts climbed 13 percent to $55 in New York.

A bid above 250 Swiss francs –about $247 – might see investors force the chief executive’s hand, according to a report from Nick Turner, an analyst at Mirabaud Securities in London.

Negotiations between J&J and Actelion, Europe’s largest biotech firm, are continuing as they work toward a potential agreement, the people said. There’s no guarantee a deal will be reached and talks could still fall apart.

A representative for J&J didn’t immediately respond on Friday to a request for comment, while a representative for Actelion didn’t respond to requests for comment sent outside normal business hours.

While J&J would prefer to buy the whole company, it’s also open to discussing other structures for the deal to win the backing of Actelion chief executive and co-founder JeanPaul Clozel, people familiar with the matter have said. Regardless of the final structure, the US firm aims to ultimately gain control of the drugmaker. – Bloomberg