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Strategies & Market Trends : Speculating in Takeover Targets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richardred who wrote (1000)	1/25/2006 12:47:33 AM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7243

Deadline Passes Without J&J Raising Bid Wednesday January 25, 12:19 am ET By Linda A. Johnson, AP Business Writer Deadline Passes Without J&J Raising Bid for Guidant TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Johnson & Johnson took no action Tuesday as a midnight deadline passed for it to raise its bid for heart device maker Guidant Corp. or let rival Boston Scientific Corp. claim the prize after upsetting J&J's plans for its biggest acquisition ever. Asked earlier whether J&J, the world's most diversified health-care company, planned to bid higher or abandon its Guidant pursuit, J&J's chief spokesman, Jeff Leebaw, declined to comment. He also would not say whether the New Brunswick-based maker of prescription drugs, medical devices and contact lenses considers its final offer for Guidant still valid. That offer amounted to $24.2 billion, or $71 per share. The lack of action after a week of anticipation and queries from the media and stock analysts raised questions about whether Johnson & Johnson was willing to pay more for Guidant's technology -- pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and a much-anticipated new drug-coated stent expected next year -- and was ceding the deal to Boston Scientific. "The fact that they're saying nothing speaks volumes," said health care analyst Steve Brozak of WBB Securities LLC. "They are letting the deadline pass. It's a strange move, considering all the time and money they've invested." Brozak said that will trigger speculation about which medical device company J&J will instead try to acquire. Indianapolis-based Guidant's three heart products are in growing markets fueled by aging baby boomers with heart problems. Boston has been winning of late in a fierce battle with J&J for the stents market. Stents are wire-mesh devices that prop open arteries after they are cleared out. Last Tuesday, Guidant's board declared the latest offer from Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific Corp. -- about $27.2 billion, or $80 per share -- superior to Johnson & Johnson's last offer. Leebaw said that once Guidant had declared another offer superior and notified J&J, it could not terminate its agreement with Johnson & Johnson until after the fifth business day had passed. "Today is the fifth business day since Guidant gave such notice," Leebaw said. "That's all that we're going to say about it." J&J executives had declined to discuss the Guidant situation Tuesday morning, when they met with analysts to report earnings that were in line with Wall Street expectations, but revenue that was below estimates. Lawyer Richard Langan, a mergers and acquisitions specialist at Nixon Peabody LLP, said that J&J's silence appeared to indicate it won't match Boston Scientific's bid, leaving Guidant free to take that deal. Under the terms of Boston Scientific's offer, Guidant's board has until the close of business Wednesday to accept. If it does, Guidant would have to pay J&J a $705 million breakup fee. Still up in the air was the Guidant shareholders meeting scheduled for next Tuesday to vote on J&J's last offer. Langan said Guidant would cancel that if it accepts the Boston Scientific deal, then would set a new meeting to vote on that agreement. J&J originally offered $25.4 billion to acquire Guidant, in December 2004, then last November got Guidant to agree to just $21.5 billion amid growing legal and regulatory problems over recalls and warnings on thousands of Guidant pacemakers and defibrillators. Boston Scientific began a bidding war on Dec. 5 with an unsolicited $24.6 billion offer. In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, J&J shares fell $1.83, or 3 percent, to close at $59.36, while Boston Scientific shares closed up 66 cents, or 2.83 percent, at $24 and Guidant shares rose 78 cents, or 1 percent, to $76.78. Johnson & Johnson: jnj.com AP Business Writer Mark Jewell in Boston contributed to this report. biz.yahoo.com

To: richardred who wrote (1000)	1/28/2006 1:06:56 AM
From: richardred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7243

If there were ever a more obvious talked about TOT this past six months. St. Jude gets the medal. I've heard Serono mentioned. Currently IMO that makes more sense. Why, a leader in birth control together with a world leader in infertility treatment. You never know! Also an old collaboration >The agreement with Serono represents Rigel’s fifth collaboration in oncology. Rigel has signed oncology partnerships with Merck on various ubiquitin ligase targets (signed 2004), Daiichi on a specific ubiquitin ligase target (2002), Novartis on anti-angiogenesis targets (2000) and Johnson & Johnson on cell cycle inhibition (1998). In addition, this is Rigel’s third major collaboration in the last 12 months. serono.com J&J May Eye St. Jude Medical for Takeover Friday January 27, 4:56 pm ET By Chris Williams, Associated Press Writer Johnson & Johnson's Next Takeover Target May Be St. Jude, Leader in Implantable Heart Technology MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Johnson & Johnson's next takeover target could be 30-year-old St. Jude Medical Inc., a quiet leader in implantable heart technology with a foothold in the promising business of implantable neurological devices. The company has about 20 percent of the market for implantable heart defibrillators, which regulate hearts that beat too fast or chaotically. That's a multibillion market expected to grow nearly 20 percent annually for the next several years. "These lend themselves to an ideal demographic of an aging worldwide population," said Steve Brozak, an analyst for WBB Securities LLC. Speculation that J&J would target St. Jude intensified last week when it lost out to Boston Scientific in the battle to acquire Guidant Corp. St. Jude -- the name has its roots with the founder's son -- got its start in 1976 making heart valves. It has maintained a focus on the valves and expanded into implantable cardioverter defibrillators -- or ICDs -- heart catheters, pacemakers and other devices to treat cardiovascular diseases. It's grown organically and through small acquisitions. Last year, it expanded its range with the $1.3 billion acquisition of Plano, Texas-based Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., which makes implantables to treat chronic pain and other neurological diseases. With 2005 sales up 27 percent to $2.9 billion and defibrillator sales up 72 percent to $1 billion, St. Jude makes an attractive target for any big company seeking to buy predictable growth. It has been the subject of takeover rumors for years, but analysts say the company has no pressing need to sell. "They are not for sale, they are not looking to be for sale and they are happy doing what they are doing -- which is adding new products and growing like a weed," said Thomas Gunderson, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. of Minneapolis. A St. Jude spokeswoman declined to make company executives available for interviews in time for this article. Earlier this week, she said the company has a policy of not commenting on mergers and acquisitions. Gunderson is among many Wall Street fans of the company. He said St. Jude has been picking up market share in defibrillators, has a "cash machine" in its mechanical heart valves and could see its new neuromodulation business grow 18 percent a year. "It has becoming increasingly clear that STJ is not 'just about ICDs' anymore," Gunderson wrote in a recent research report. The new products "demonstrate management's dedication to a broad-based growth strategy." The stock has risen steadily during the past 52 weeks. It rose 6 cents to close at $49.66 Friday on the New York Stock exchange, near the high end of its range of $34.48 to $54.75. The company has a low profile in Minnesota's medical technology sector, which includes Fridley-based Medtronic Inc. and Guidant Corp.'s cardiac rhythm management division in Arden Hills -- the other two major players in the implantable defibrillator market. Don Gerhardt, president of Medical Alley/MNBIO, a Minnesota trade group, said of St. Jude, "Their personality is of a quieter sort. They have just gone about their business in a very efficient way." The company was named in 1976 after St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, by founder Manuel Villafana as a way of saying thanks. Friends and family had prayed to the saint after his son, Jude, was born with a life-threatening condition. Young Jude recovered after corrective surgery at the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Both Brozak and Gunderson praised the company's management, led by Chairman and CEO Dan Starks. Gunderson said the company's prowess was evident as it picked up market share in defibrillators while Guidant stumbled through a series of recalls and safety advisories through much of 2005. "Another company could have been in that situation and not have been able to take advantage of the situation," Gunderson said. "They were ready to have good luck." St. Jude Medical: sjm.com biz.yahoo.com

To: richardred who wrote (1000)	4/5/2006 10:45:49 AM
From: richardred	Respond to of 7243

St. Jude Shares Down on Lowered Outlook Wednesday April 5, 9:09 am ET St. Jude Medical Shares Sink After Company Cuts First-Quarter View on Slower ICD Sales NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of St. Jude Medical Inc., a developer and marketer of devices that treat cardiovascular disease, plummeted early Wednesday after the company slashed its first-quarter profit and revenue outlook, hurt by slower sales of a heart device. The St. Paul, Minn.-based company late Tuesday cut its sales expectations for the first quarter below Wall Street estimates to $784 million, from previous guidance of between $799 million and $839 million, due to low sales of an implantable defibrillator, or ICD. The stock slipped 39 cents to close at $41.30 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. On Wednesday, in premarket electronic trading on the INET, shares sank $4.80, or 11.6 percent, to $36.50. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $35.16 to $54.75. "The ICD market has clearly slowed more than anybody expected," said analyst Bob Hopkins of Lehman Brothers in an April 5 research note. "From a stock-picking perspective, the problem is that uncertainty will reign at least until we see third-quarter numbers when industry comparisons ease." John Putnam, analyst at Stanford Group Co., reiterated his "Hold" rating, saying that he expected the stock to sell off 10 percent to 15 percent. "The company blames industry interruption and volatility, presumably caused by Guidant," Putnam wrote in a research note. "While Guidant's unsettled situation may be contributing to some industry disruption, we believe that STJ has been too optimistic as to how much ICD market share it could gain, especially at the expense of Guidant." St. Jude's Medical rival Guidant Corp., maker of cardiovascular therapeutic devices, was down 15 cents to $77 in premarket trading, from its Tuesday closing price of $77.15 on the New York Stock Exchange. biz.yahoo.com