A potential obstacle to Parexel’s agreed £91 million (US$181 million) bid for clinical technology specialist ClinPhone has now been removed after rival contract research organisation (CRO) Quintiles Transnational decided not to go ahead with an offer for the UK company.
Quintiles has not commented further, other than to say that it would concentrate on developing clinical trial technology in-house. Last month the US-based CRO announced it had “been in discussions with the Board of ClinPhone which may or may not lead to” a cash offer at a premium to the price per share proposed by Parexel.
The pull-out leaves the field clear for Parexel, which offered 135 pence per share to acquire ClinPhone’s entire issued and to-be-issued ordinary share capital. The deal, which is subject to antitrust approvals and the assent of ClinPhone’s shareholders, is expected to close during the first quarter of Parexel’s 2009 fiscal year, or by 30 September 2008.
