DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Drug developer Facet Biotech Corp. (FACT) told its shareholders
Thursday not to tender their holdings to Biogen Idec Inc.'s (BIIB)
$356 million takeover offer, a bid the company had already called
"inadequate" and "not in the best interest" of shareholders.
Biogen launched the tender offer last week, taking the bid
directly to shareholders. Facet at the time recommended
shareholders take no action.
The bid of $14.50 a share is below where the stock has been
trading since it was made last month. The stock closed Wednesday at
$17.29, illustrating investors' belief that a deal between the two
companies would need to be done at a higher price.
Biogen made its latest bid public after Facet rejected earlier
takeover approaches.
Facet President and Chief Executive Faheem Hasnain had said "it
does not appear to be a coincidence" that Biogen made its offer
within weeks of the companies' decision to start a phase 3 trial
for multiple-sclerosis treatment daclizumab.
On Thursday, Hasnain said the company "remains open to
appropriate opportunities" to create shareholder value.
The companies have worked together since 2005 on treatments for
multiple sclerosis and solid tumors. A deal would come as larger
drug makers have been looking at smaller drug developers as ways to
replenish their pipelines.
-By Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2354;
kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com