Notch a win for Carl Icahn's aggressive strategy in the biotech field. Bristol-Myers Squibb is offering to pay $4.5 billion to buy ImClone Systems at $60 a share. That's a 40 percent premium over the past month's average and a sweet victory for Icahn, who had pushed and prodded for a broad management shakeup. BMS and ImClone jointly market the blockbuster cancer drug Erbitux and BMS already owns 17 percent of its partner.
There's no doubt who most needs to bless the deal. BMS CEO Jim Cornelius wrote a letter to Icahn singing praises for the deal. "A full combination of BMS and ImClone is a natural fit for both our companies, and we are convinced our proposed price represents a full and fair offer for ImClone."
- read the story in the Wall Street Journal