Elan considered buying Royalty before counter bid

Elan Corp considered buying New York investment firm Royalty Pharma last year, about six months before Royalty Pharma turned around with an acquisition proposal for Elan that’s now valued at about $5.7bn (€4.33bn).

The top executives from the two companies met in September, when they discussed Royalty Pharma’s interest in becoming a public company, which an acquisition by Elan would facilitate, New York-based Royalty Pharma said yesterday in its offer document. The parties agreed to further study potential combinations and meet again, Royalty Pharma said.

By October, Royalty Pharma chief executive Pablo Legorreta told Elan chief executive Kelly Martin and chairman Robert Ingram he thought his company’s market value was larger than Elan’s, and he was interested in acquiring Elan, according to the document. Mr Martin and Mr Ingram agreed to give the possibility some thought, according to the offer.