Shire, ViroPharma deal
ViroPharma disclosed in an SEC filing details of the discussions it had with Shire related to Shire's plans to acquire ViroPharma for $50 per share in cash, which the companies said values ViroPharma at $4.2 billion. The price is a 27% premium to ViroPharma's close of $39.38 on Nov. 8, before the deal was announced, and a 64% premium to ViroPharma's close of $30.47 on Sept. 12, before the company jumped on rumors of a possible auction after receiving an unsolicited bid. The deal is expected to close this quarter or next quarter. In the filing, ViroPharma said that on May 3 it received a letter from Shire disclosing an unsolicited, non-binding indication of interest for Shire to acquire ViroPharma for $41 per share. ViroPharma's board unanimously rejected the proposal at a May 23 meeting. ViroPharma told Shire about the decision on May 24. Shire sent another letter on May 30 stating its proposal was based solely on publicly available information and that it was confident it could identify additional value with access to further information through a confidential management meeting (see BioCentury, Nov. 18). ...