Royalty increases Elan bid and could pay up to $8bn for biotech company

US intellectual property firm Royalty Pharma has further increased its bid for Irish biotechnology company Elan to $13 (€9.80) per share.

The move could see Royalty pay at least $6.7bn for Elan, but possibly as much as $8bn, some $2bn more than it initially offered when launched its bid in February.

Elan was making no comment on the matter yesterday except to say that it will honour Irish takeover law and assess the announcement before advising shareholders “accordingly”.