perspective d'une OPA (Securibourse)

par nols, jeudi 22 janvier 2009, 10:22 (il y a 5778 jours) @ kisscool

Le texte complet:
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- NicOx SA was approached by more drugmakers interested in its experimental painkiller in the past month and will hire a bank for advice in case the talks spark an unwanted takeover bid for the French biotechnology company.
“Talks like those we’re holding could lead to a takeover offer,” Chief Executive Officer Michele Garufi said in an interview in Paris. “We don’t want to be unprepared.”
Garufi, 54, co-founded the company in 1996 and says he wants to keep NicOx independent, which may become more difficult after the stock lost half its value since May. The Italian scientist says he received more approaches since he released final data showing the painkiller naproxcinod has fewer side effects than naproxen, the drug it’s derived from.
“Some companies arrived after December,” Garufi said. “Some talks are more advanced than others.” He declined to name the companies or say what bank NicOx is looking to hire.
NicOx shares rose as much as 14 percent in Paris.
Drugmakers like Wyeth of Madison, New Jersey, and Sanofi- Aventis SA of France are looking for acquisitions as $84 billion worth of their prescription products are scheduled to lose patent protection by 2013.
NicOx, based in Sophia-Antipolis, on the French Riviera, already has partnerships with Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. It has no drugs on the market yet. The company had at least 100 million euros ($129 million) in cash at the start of the year, which should cover its financing needs for two years, Garufi said.
‘Grow It’
“When you’ve built a company from scratch like I did with NicOx, you don’t want to sell out,” Garufi said. “You just want to grow it.”
The decline in NicOx shares had left the company with a market value of 351.1 million euros before today’s surge.
The French company aims to have a partner before the end of June, Garufi said.
“I would have been worried if there was no interest” in naproxcinod “but there clearly is,” he said. The company has been trying to show that its most advanced treatment works as well as the standard painkiller naproxen, sold over the counter as Aleve by Bayer AG, and without side effects such as high blood pressure. The pooled analysis of findings from the last of three advanced clinical trials confirmed naproxcinod is effective and safer than naproxen, according to NicOx.
The company may only sell rights to the medicine for the U.S. at first, Garufi said.
“A worldwide deal is easier but I am more favorable to signing a deal only for the U.S. at first,” he said. Few companies have the global reach to ensure good sales of a drug worldwide, he added.
Once an agreement is reached, Garufi said he wants to use the funds to buy “small” products and companies in the U.S.