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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Henry Niman who wrote (9976)	10/22/1997 3:55:00 PM
From: tdinovo	Respond to of 32384

Henry, Do 23 more posts and then we'll talk about this. It's an interesting thought process. Ted

To: Henry Niman who wrote (9976)	10/22/1997 4:04:00 PM
From: Arthur Radley	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 32384

Would anyone like to react to the order size on LGND near the close: Bid 1000 Ask 50500 Whoa!

To: Henry Niman who wrote (9976)	10/22/1997 6:30:00 PM
From: tdinovo	Respond to of 32384

Henry, I want to quibble a bit with you on this one. While you're certainly right that the deal was struck "in principle" before the clock started, Lilly was still concerned that they not "overpay" for their Ligand equity stake. I agree it is also likely that there was substantial institutional participation in moving the stock from 12 to 16, probably more than the partners expected. But trade-by-trade chart I looked at for the five day period was truly striking. I am virtually certain there were both a large buyer and seller, essentially guaranteeing the price at those levels. That's not an uncommon practice when a secondary is brought to market. Participating institutions often provide a floor for a period of weeks to months, depending on the issue involved. Its entirely possible that Ligand and Lilly agreed to this as part of the deal. It's not obvious to me that this is manipulative, although, as I noted, I'm certainly no authority. BTW, the large ask that Texas noted probably was overhanging the market most of the day. The trading pattern after a few early morning trades was also very narrow and rigid. There were also a number of biotechs that had large blocks trade at the bid right before the close. This may have reflected the pending news on Amgen and bigger holders anticipating a sharp drop as a result. If so, Amgen may have the last laugh as they also announced a $1 billion stock buy back. And they have the cash to do it!!! Ted