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To: richardred who wrote (994)	1/17/2006 9:59:23 AM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7243

What a bold move, amazing battle! Boston Scientific Ups Guidant Bid Again Tuesday January 17, 9:29 am ET By Mark Jewell, AP Business Writer Boston Scientific Raises Offer for Guidant to $27 Billion As War With J&J Continues BOSTON (AP) -- Boston Scientific Corp. increased its offer Tuesday for Guidant Corp. to about $27 billion from nearly $25 billion and set a deadline later in the day for a response, seeking to trump Johnson & Johnson in an increasingly pricey bidding war for the medical device maker. The latest proposal from Boston Scientific expires at 5 p.m. EST Tuesday. The Massachusetts company hopes the move will prompt Guidant's board to abandon its support of J&J's latest $24.2 billion bid, made Friday. "By any objective measure, our offer is clearly superior to Johnson & Johnson's," Boston Scientific chairman Pete Nicholas said in a statement. J&J spokesman Jeff Leebaw declined to comment on Tuesday morning. A Guidant spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment. J&J and Boston Scientific, rivals in the market for drug-coated heart stents, are dueling for Guidant's business in implantable defibrillators and pacemakers, a fast-growing $10 billion business in which neither suitor is a player. Even before Boston Scientific's latest move, some analysts had suggested a revolt was possible by Guidant shareholders because Boston Scientific was offering a higher price than J&J, which countered that its deal offered greater certainty and a speedier route to closing. Boston Scientific sought to derail a year of dealmaking between Guidant and J&J by making an unsolicited bid on Dec. 5 that it finalized on Jan. 8. If Guidant's board declares Boston Scientific's amended offer superior to J&J, it will remain open until Jan. 25. Any declaration that Boston Scientific's offer is superior starts a clock of five business days for J&J to respond, according to its agreement with Guidant. Boston Scientific had previously offered an equal amount of cash and stock in its offer, but boosted the cash component on Tuesday, proposing to pay $42 in cash and $38 in stock for each share of Indianapolis-based Guidant. It said the $80-per-share offer amounts to a premium of $9 per share, or a total of $3.3 billion, over the latest $71-per-share offer from J&J. The New Brunswick, N.J.-based company's offer is made up of $40.52 in cash and 0.493 shares of stock. Boston Scientific's latest offer also amends a separate deal announced Jan. 8 to address antitrust issues and related fears that a regulatory review could slow the closing of any deal. Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific said its new proposal raises the price that Abbott Laboratories Inc. will pay for Guidant's vascular business from $3.8 billion to $4.1 billion. Abbott, based near Chicago, also will increase the amount it lends Boston Scientific from $700 million to $900 million, and Abbott will buy $1.4 billion worth of Boston Scientific's stock. Those deals are all contingent on Boston Scientific concluding a deal to acquire Guidant. Unlike Boston Scientific's proposal, J&J's offer has already cleared an antitrust review, which would speed the process toward closing a deal. Shareholders are due to vote on that proposal Jan. 31. Guidant shares rose $5.56, or 7.9 percent, to $76.40 in premarket trading while shares of Boston Scientific fell $1.27 cents, or 5 percent to $23.93 and J&J shares slipped 47 cents to $61.35. AP Business Writer Wallace Witkowski contributed to this report. biz.yahoo.com