- Consumer Sentiment Falters, Despite Job Growth
- Obama to Exempt Religious Employers on Birth Control
- Bonus Bloodbath: Europe Banker Backlash Continues
- Diamond Investing: Why It's Not for the Faint of Heart
- SEC Reaches Settlement in Bear Stearns Fraud Case
- Israel Likely to Bomb Iran This Year: Political Analyst
- The World's Best Beers
- Rep. Bachus Faces Insider Trading Probe: Report
- In Europe, Stagnation as a Way of Life
- Clint Eastwood ‘Surprised’ by Reaction to Chrysler's ‘Halftime in America’ Ad
- Bulls Check In to Community Health
- Bank of America’s Worst-Case Scenario Gets More Real
- Tesla Unveils First SUV: Model X
- New York Fashion Week Hits the Runway as Colors Pop
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
- Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Online Dating
- Victor Cruz ‘Understands’ Gisele's Super Bowl Frustrations
MOST SHARED
- Consumer Sentiment Falters, Despite Job Growth
- Bill Murray's View on the Economy
- Santelli's Morning Bond Report
- Videogame Sales Fell 34 Percent in January
- Steelers' Antonio Brown Spends Super Bowl Week with Twitter Fan Turned BFF
- Home of the Oscars Battles For Kodak Sponsorship
- Greek Police Union Wants to Arrest EU, IMF Officials
- Stocks Stumble as Greek Talks Stall; Vix Soars
- How to Date a Wall Street Man
- Bonus Question Dogs Barclays’ CEO Bob Diamond
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Biogen Expected to Fetch up to $30 Billion
Text Size 
Biogen Idec, which has put itself up for sale, may get bids of around $25-30 billion from several of the world's top drugmakers keen to expand in the hot area of biotech medicine.
Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and Johnson & Johnson [JNJ
Loading...
()
] could all use the U.S. company to gain scale in protein and antibody drug manufacturing, sales and research, bankers and industry analysts said on Monday.
Roche Holding, however, may be less interested - despite its collaboration with Biogen on cancer drug MabThera/Rituxan - since it already has a major presence in biotech medicine production.
GlaxoSmithKline, another player with a potential appetite, is also probably not in the running, as it focuses on other priorities, some industry experts said.
Roche's Swiss rival Novartis [NVS
Loading...
()
], meanwhile, has a competing presence in multiple sclerosis which could rule it out from buying Biogen.
Officials at all the firms declined to comment.
"A number of big companies have said recently they don't think they are big enough in biotech yet, so I would think there will be quite a lot of interest," said Paul Diggle of Nomura Code Securities.
Acquiring Biogen [BIIB
Loading...
()
] will not be cheap, however.
The unexpectedly rich price of $15.6 billion paid for U.S. biotech firm MedImmune by AstraZeneca earlier this year - equivalent to 11-times annual sales - showed big pharma's appetite for biotech assets.
That same high valuation would value Biogen at about $34 billion.
In practice, analysts believe threats to Biogen's core multiple sclerosis franchise from new products and the risk of biogeneric competition to its established MS drug Avonex in the years ahead mean a lowlier rating is justified.
New MS Drug Tysabri a Wild Card
On the plus side, new MS drug Tysabri is now seen by some analysts as a potential multibillion-dollar-year seller. Biogen collaborates on the drug with Elan [ELN
Loading...
()
].
"The key variable in the take-out price is the outlook for Tysabri," said Geoffrey Porges, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, who estimates Biogen will fetch between $85 to $100 a share.
Investors are clearly anticipating a keen tussle, with Biogen shares rising 19 percent in Nasdaq trade on Monday to $82.50, valuing the business at around $23 billion.
The prize offered Biogen is a bridgehead into the biological medicines market, where growth is faster and margins higher than in traditional pharmaceuticals.
"A lot of people want biological capacity. Those who have it already probably won't be bidders, so I guess you can probably count out Roche and AstraZeneca," said Ben Yeoh, an industry analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort.
France's Sanofi-Aventis [SNY
Loading...
()
], the world's third-largest drugmaker, said last month it was looking for acquisitions in biotechnology - particularly in manufacturing.
Pfizer [PFE
Loading...
()
], the global number one in pharmaceuticals, has also trumpeted its determination to be a leader in biotech.
"Sanofi is looking for more biological products and Pfizer is doing the same," said Tim Race of brokerage ING.
Biogen's announcement late on Friday comes four years after Biogen was acquired by Idec Pharmaceutical for $6.7 billion.
The company said it hired Goldman Sachs [GS
Loading...
()
] and Merrill Lynch [MER
Loading...
()
] to help find a buyer and that it has already received "expressions of interest."
One interested party is billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who recently took control of ImClone Systems [IMCL
Loading...
()
] and has increased his stake in Biogen to about 4 percent.
- Actor Clint Eastwood responds to critics over the Chrysler Super Bowl ad and all the controversy.
- Here’s a look at Westminster Kennel Club’s most successful breeds and how much they cost.
- When looking for that next career move, workers need to look at the differences between a start-up and a public firm.
- After enduring the recession, many Baby Boomers say money isn’t the most important thing they hope to leave to their kids.
- The ‘Fast Money’ traders weigh in on fashion related stocks from apparel to footwear to accessories and fragrances.
- Attention, online shoppers. The days of tax-free online shopping may be coming to an end in many states.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
