Elan affirms start of sale process

Irish bio-tech company Elan looks set to be sold, with management sensationally announcing yesterday that it has authorised a formal sale process to commence.

Earlier this week, the Dublin-headquartered firm said it had received several unsolicited “corporate enquiries” and had instructed its advisors — which include Davy Corporate Finance, Citigroup, Ondra Partners, Morgan Stanley and A&L Goodbody — to assess all expressions of interest that reflect “the intrinsic value” of the firm.

Since February, Elan has been battling to stave off a hostile bid from US intellectual property firm Royalty Pharma and said that Royalty’s latest bid, which could have seen it pay up to $8bn (€6bn) for the company, was “wholly inadequate”.