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Biotech / Medical : SAFESKIN -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Bershtein who wrote (564)	1/26/1999 9:40:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 828

>LIG being wooed by mystery party swell post, alan. here's a bit more. perhaps SFSK will be entering the love glove business sooner than we anticipated. ----- London International Gets Unsolicited Merger Approach Bloomberg News January 25, 1999, 9:18 a.m. PT London, Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- London International Group Plc, which dominates the world market for condoms, said it received an unsolicited bid approach from an unnamed company, sending its shares soaring 27 percent. LIG, the maker of Durex condoms and Regent surgical gloves, didn't disclose details of the approach, except to call it ''a preliminary unsolicited proposal regarding a possible merger.'' Its shares rose 35 pence to 163.5p. The approach for London-based LIG came weeks after its stock plunged by one-third when it posted a first-half loss and said full-year profit would fall. LIG, which is battling Carter- Wallace Inc. and Pacific Dunlop Ltd. in the world condom market, cited rising competition, particularly in the U.S. surgical-glove market, where it competes with Safeskin Corp. and others. ''It's extremely undervalued, so it's not surprising they had a takeover approach,'' said James Culverwell, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, who rates the stock a ''buy'' at any price up to 200 pence. ''The market overreacted when they had a profit warning.'' Mike King, an analyst with SG Securities, said the most likely bidder is San Diego-based Safeskin, which LIG said has about 40 percent of the U.S. surgical-glove market. King said the companies are similarly sized and have complementary products in surgical and examination gloves. Safeskin could not immediately be reached for comment. ''You mix the two and it makes sense,'' said King, who rates LIG stock ''undervalued'' up to 180 pence. LIG had a market value of 531.3 million pounds ($876 million) at Friday's closing share price of 128.5 pence. Safeskin had a market capitalization of $1.28 billion at Friday's close. Agreed to Disclose David Davies, LIG's finance director, declined to discuss the nature of the approach. He said the company hadn't been required to disclose it by the London Stock Exchange, however. The exchange typically requires companies to disclose approaches if their shares have moved substantially. ''We've been carefully monitoring the situation and it was mutually agreed with our advisers to disclose this,'' said Davies in an interview. The company is advised by Lazard Brothers and its broker is Warburg Dillon Read, Davies said. LIG has reorganized in recent years under chief executive Nick Hodges. It claims about 22 percent of the world condom market. Its nearest competitors are Pacific Dunlop's Ansell division, which has 12 percent of the market, Carter-Wallace Inc. and Okamoto Industries Inc. of Japan, both with about 7 percent of the world market. LIG said two weeks ago it would cut about 10 percent of its workforce and close its London headquarters to combat rising competition in surgical gloves, its second-biggest product line.