Elan shares continue upward move in morning trade

Elan shares broke through the €21 mark today, after a rise of 19 cent took them to €21.14.

Athlone-based pharmaceutical company Elan today announced that legal eagle Richard C. Collier would be joining the company as executive vice president and general counsel at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, shares in Northern Ireland-based pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott fell 22 cent to €12.26 after it emerged that the two rival bidders for the group were to join forces.

The private equity arms of Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan have agreed for Bain Capital and Thomas H Lee to join the Waren Acquisition consortium in their bid to buy Warner Chilcott for £1.62bn (€2.34bn).

Overall, the ISEQ index of Irish shares was up 28.57 points to 5807.07 in morning trading today.