Nutmegged on SOBI

Hacks over at FT Alphaville have pulled the trigger on the Swedish Orphan Biovitrum takeover tale. Here is a link to the piece:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2016/05/20/2162592/friday-raw-are-bidders-circling-sobi-again/

Burnt fingers - part 2

Market punters that like to bet on the next takeover deal are likely to be experiencing burnt fingers for the second time in a week.

That's because the outgoing chairman of SOBI, a Sweden-based rare disease drug developer, slotted 8m shares last night, suggesting the company has not been approached by buyer.

RARE Alert: Reckitt Benckiser said to be working with Robey Warshaw on major deal - part 2

It's good to see little old Betaville's RARE story about Reckitt Benckiser followed up in the British stock market reports this morning.

Just over a month ago I wrote that Reckitt was working with (which is different to formally appointing) uber bankers at Robey Warshaw on a major deal. Here is a link to that piece:

RARE alert: Reckitt Benckiser said to be working with Robey Warshaw on major deal

Rakesh Kapoor, chief executive of FTSE 100-listed Reckitt Benkiser, has been talking up the prospects of doing some major M&A in 2016.

Indeed, a few weeks ago Morgan Stanley analysts quoted Mr Kapoor as saying:

Big scoop from the WSJ - Pfizer in $300 billion merger talks with Allergan

Yes - you read the headline correctly.

When you wake up this morning, you might want to check out this cracking tale from the venerable Wall Street Journal:

Back on Tip TV talking about chip deals, the WSJ and Pfizer/Cellectis/BioMarin

Apologies for the tardy posting - I have been out all day looking for jackanories.

Anyway, here is today's Tip TV clip with the my pal Nick "Moose" Batsford.

Head scratching

Huge hat tip to Ed Hammond and Arash Massoudi the M&A reporters over at the Financial Times for their scoop on CSR this morning. It's not easy landing these types of jackanories during August when most of the dealmaking community is away sunning themselves in the Med.

In case you missed it, here is a link to Hammond and Massoudi's piece: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35629c52-2e5b-11e4-b330-00144feabdc0.html and the confirmation from CSR: http://www.investegate.co.uk/csr-plc--csr-/rns/csr-confirms-approach-from-microchip-technology/201408280947112254Q/

Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees £80 billion worth deals vanish in two days

Dealmakers round at Bank of America Merrill Lynch must be feeling pretty sore right now.

Why? Well, rainmakers at the US investment bank have just seen about £80 billion worth of deals go up in smoke in the last 48 hours.

Osborne begins new era

Great to see my old colleague and sort-of boss Alistair Osborne kick off his new job at The Times with a cracking column on the Pfizer/AstraZeneca takeover situation.

Alistair is a professional wind up merchant and I was regularly on the receiving end of his wrath (any minute now I'm sure I will receive an email from him telling me off about my poor English/grammar etc) but I have to admit he is one of the finest business journalists I have ever worked with. Here is a link to Alistair's column that was published in The Times today: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/columnists/article4093361.ece.

AstraZeneca rejects latest Pfizer approach

Wow - AstraZeneca has rejected Pfizer's fresh £55.00 a share offer.

Now, I have to admit I didn't see that coming. I thought the raise would allow both companies to at least start talking and get an extension to the "put up or shut up" deadline.

Fancy that - Pfizer is apparently preparing to sweeten its offer for Astra

Interesting to see most of the financial media (The Sunday Times, Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and Mark Kleinman over at Sky News) reporting today Pfizer is preparing to sweeten its offer for AstraZeneca to about £55.00 a share.

I'm sure I alluded to something very similar happening on Tip TV last Thursday. Here is a link to the clip: http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/tip-tv-highlight-ben-harrington-15-05-14/

To go hostile or not hostile

Bloomberg, the BBC's Kamal Ahmed (a jolly nice chap and my old boss from time at The Sunday Telegraph) and Channel 4's Faisal Islam have been alluding to Pfizer potentially going "hostile" on AstraZeneca following the release of the US company's statement this morning. Here is a link to the statement: http://www.investegate.co.uk/pfizer-inc--pfz-/rns/pfizer-s-possible-offer-for-astrazeneca-plc/201405130700379374G/ 

I think I mentioned on Sunday the "hostile" bid rumour was rattling around the market towards the end of last week. Here is a link to the article: http://betaville123.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/sunday-review.html#more

Sunday review

I'm surprised to see none of the rumours about Pfizer launching a hostile bid for AstraZeneca end up in the Sunday newspapers today.

The hostile bid rumour - and also talk that Pfizer was planning to drop its bid - were both doing the rounds among traders and hedge funds late last week. I presume there is nothing in both rumours (at this moment in time, at least) given both were being aired simultaneously and neither has ended up being stood up by a reputable Sunday newspaper.

Another "bump" to come from Pfizer?

So Pfizer's new indicative offer for AstraZeneca came in yesterday at £50.00 a share.

Funny that, because £50.00 a share is exactly the same price I mentioned in the blog posting I published when Ben Marlow of The Sunday Times broke the original story about Pfizer having approached the FTSE 100 company a few months ago. Here is a link to the original blog posting: http://betaville123.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/marlow-cooks-up-massive-drugs-deal.html

Back on Tip TV talking about AstraZeneca, Cabot Oil and Gas and InterMune

I was invited back onto Tip TV this morning to talk about deals, potential upcoming deals and general backslapping for predicting Pfizer would come back for AstraZeneca.

Here is a link to today's show: http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/tip-tv-highlight-ben-harrington-01-05-2014/

Another day, another multibillion dollar pharma deal....

Wow - today's news about Pfizer formally launching its $100 billion takeover bid for AstraZeneca has sent the pharmacuetical sector rumour mill into overdrive.

One company that is getting a lot of attention in European markets is US-based InterMune, a biotechnology business focused on the research and development of therapies in pulmonology and fibrotic diseases.

Marlow cooks up massive drugs deal

Huge hat tip to Ben Marlow, the M&A reporter over at The Sunday Times. 

Ben - who is having an amazing story-breaking run at the moment - landed the scoop of the Easter weekend (and possibly the year) with his tale that US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been weighing a £60 billion takeover bid for London-listed AstraZeneca.