GSK goes hostile with share offer

GlaxoSmithKline will take its $2.6bn (€2bn) bid for Human Genome Sciences direct to shareholders this week after its takeover offer was rejected last month by the US biotech group’s board.

The decision to go hostile with the $13 a share cash tender offer sets GSK up for a potentially lengthy battle with those Human Genome investors, who believe it is not offering enough.

“They will do fantastically well out of this — at $13 it is a steal,” said Mark Evans, a fund manager at Taube Hodson Stonex, the sixth largest investor in Human Genome with a 5.6% stake.