In response to Johnson & Johnson’s increased bet earlier this week for heart-device maker Guidant, Boston Scientific has matched J&J’s bet and upped the ante.
Gee, wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that J&J was getting assistance from the Lord of Regulation in driving the price of Guidant down?
Boston Scientific’s sweetened bid is valued at $25.55 billion and gives Guidant’s board board until Friday afternoon to fish or cut bait on the offer. Boston Scientific’s new offer is valued at $73 per Guidant share (up from its earlier $72 per share offer) and deletes most of the conditions in prior bid that made J&J’s competing offer (valued at $67.92 per Guidant share) look to be more likely to close and, thus, a better risk for Guidant. What a far cry from the $56 per share price of Guidant’s shares just two months ago when J&J was threatening to walk the deal.
Update: Guidant Corp.’s board accepted the Johnson & Johnson offer late Friday and rejected the larger but potentially more time-consuming competing Boston Scientific offer. The agreement is valued at $24.2 billion, consisting of $40.52 in cash and .493 shares of J&J stock for each Guidant share and is scheduled to close as early as Jan. 31. Boston Scientific — which, unlike J&J, would have still had to obtain government regulatory approval of its bid — had hoped to close its proposed deal by March 31.