I own some Novartis so I was interested in the Chiron piece. This, from Forbes, sort of confirms the idea that Novartis would not regard CHIR as a strategic investment. Of course, it could be gamesmanship on Vasella's part.
Separately, Dr. Vasella said that purchasing Chiron (nasdaq: CHIR - news - people ) is not crucial for the Swiss drug firm, and that he would not wait forever to come to a merger agreement with the biotech firm. The two companies have been mired in a stalemate ever since Chiron's independent directors rejected Novartis' offer to acquire the Chiron shares it doesn't already own, for $40 per share--or $4.5 billion. Chiron's independent directors called that amount "inadequate" in a statement.
"Everything is possible. We have made our offer, we stand by it, and we wait," said Vasella. He added that while it "would be nice" to do the deal, it "is not a necessity, it is not critical for Novartis." Chiron shares were recently trading above $43, indicating the market expects a modestly higher bid to eventually emerge.
EDIT: Of course, since I own CHIR in the biotech for charity portfolio, I hope a higher bid does emerge.<G> |
