Pressure on Elan to open books after improved Royalty bid

Royalty Pharma’s sweetened bid for Irish drugmaker Elan heaps pressure on Elan’s management to open its books to the US investment firm in the hope of a better offer, analysts and shareholders said yesterday.

Royalty made its formal cash offer worth up to $7.3bn (€5.59bn), or $12 a share, ahead of a May 10 deadline for a firm bid, improving on an initial approach worth $11 per share that was rejected by Elan in February for being “highly conditional”.

The New York-based company, targeting royalty rights for multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment Tysabri worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, said the offer may fall below $12, depending on Elan’s pricing of a share buyback this week.