UK biotechnology company, SkyePharma, saw its share price jump almost 10% on the London Stock Exchange this morning after its revealed it has received an unsolicited bid approach and will now consider “all its strategic options,” including selling the firm.
The company’s board has appointed brokerage house Lehman Brothers to undertake the review, but is cautious in putting a permanent ‘for sale’ sign on its name, adding: “There is no certainty that the review will result in any change to the present ownership structure of the company.”
But it could be good news for SkyePharma’s shareholders, which have trod a somewhat difficult road: at the end of September, the company’s stock price slid after it announced a discounted rights issue to support clinical development of its asthma drug Flutiform (formoterol plus fluticasone) and said first-half revenues had inched up just 3% [[29/09/05d]].
However, things have been looking up and, on November 7, SkyePharma saw another boost after HBM BioVentures – which is chaired by the former chief financial officer of Roche, Henri Meier – increased its stake in the UK firm by just over 1% to 6.63%. But analysts have said there a few obvious candidates as to who could be the unnamed bidder.
