Tuesday 15 July 2014

Shire PR

Wow - Susan Kilsby, chairwoman of Shire, seems to be getting a lot of positive newspaper coverage this morning.

Kilsby, who I once met while working at The Daily Telegraph when she was at Credit Suisse, has even managed to generate praise from Alistair Osborne, an old colleague who rarely hands out compliments to investment bankers.


And this piece from Bloomberg is even more gushing: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-14/shire-s-right-on-the-money-kilsby-drives-up-deal-s-price.html

If Kilsby - or Shire even - has employed a "behind-the-secenes PR man/woman", he/she surely is doing a cracking job.

UPDATE: A few City contacts have been in touch to say they, too, believe Kilsby has done a great job in getting AbbVie to raise its offer for Shire several times ahead of committing to making a formal offer.

Some sources even believe that if Shire's chairman had been the classic kind FTSE 100 board member (rather than a former investment banker) than the deal might not be on course for announcement. So, I guess she justifies the great PR (if you believe in M&A as way to create value in a capitalist society but that's a debate for another time).   

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