Is a buyout in the future for San Diego based Amylin Pharmaceuticals? According to a Bloomberg report, it sure does look that way, as some top Pharmaceutical companies want to look at the company books in order to determine if a buyout is in the best interest of their company.
As Bloomberg reports, the world’s biggest drugmakers have lined up to take a look at Amylin’s books as the U.S.-based company prepares to entertain a first round of bids.
Among the Amylin shoppers are 6 of the Big Pharmas: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Merck, Roche and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Along with Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical who is also checking the company’s stats, sources tell Bloomberg.
But why all the interest? What does Amylin manufacture that has so many big names interested in the company?
Amylin makes diabetes drugs. Its small stable–Byetta and its long-acting cousin Bydureon–promises billions in eventual sales, in a therapeutic category that’s growing worldwide.
Amylin received regulatory approval for Bydureon, a once- weekly formulation of its earlier diabetes drug Byetta, in January, and the therapy may draw $1.5 billion in peak annual sales in the U.S., according to Robyn Karnauskas, an analyst with Deutsche Bank. The drugmaker had been seeking a partner to help market Bydureon outside the U.S. since November, when it ended a collaboration with Eli Lilly & Co.
“Diabetes is an area companies either want a position in or want a stronger position in,” said Mark Clark, an analyst at Deutsche Bank in London. “Amylin is not a massive financial stretch so it comes down to what companies’ alternatives are, whether there are other synergies involved and who it makes the most sense to. Some companies are more desperate for revenue sources than others.”
The company has a market cap of more than $4 billion, Bloomberg figures, and generated more than $650 million in revenue last year.
San Diego-based Amylin hired Credit Suisse Group AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to assess takeover interest, one person said last month.
“Any of the companies listed would fit the characteristics of having a ‘strong’ R&D commitment to diabetes,” the Leerink Swann analysts wrote. “Amylin could be deemed highly strategic for any of the companies cited.”
In March, Amylin rejected a $22 per share bid, totaling approx 3.5 billion, from Bristol-Myers. Since, shares have climbed to nearly $27 per share.
Rejection of the bid resulted in a lawsuit from Billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The lawsuit has since been dropped following a meeting with Chief Executive Officer Daniel Bradbury. Icahn owned about 8.8 percent of Amylin as of April, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. He had sued Amylin in Delaware Chancery Court over a rule requiring advance notice of candidates for board seats after the board rejected Bristol-Myers’s $3.5 billion buyout bid. Icahn has said he still wants Amylin to pursue a sale.
First-round bids are due in the next two weeks.