LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline’s $2.6
billion offer for Human Genome Sciences undervalues the
biotech company, according to Taube Hodson Stonex, a leading
investor in the U.S. group.
“The price that’s been offered, although it is a big premium
to where the shares were trading, is not high enough,” said Mark
Evans, a fund manager at Taube, which is the sixth largest
investor in Human Genome with a 5.6 percent stake.
GSK, Britain’s biggest drugmaker, says its $13 a share offer
is “full and fair” and it is the only obvious owner for the U.S.
firm, given the long-term partnership between the two companies.
But Evans said GSK was trying to buy the business on the
cheap and its bid failed to reflect the potential upside from
existing and experimental medicines.
“When I put it all into a spreadsheet, with reasonable sales
numbers, I have never been able to get this to be worth less
than $20 a share,” he told Reuters.
GSK’s $13 a share offer represents an 81 percent premium but
it is still well below the $30 touched a year ago.
Human Genome – a pioneer of gene-based drug discovery, which
sells the new lupus drug Benlysta GSK – has rejected GSK’s offer
as failing to reflect the value inherent in the company.
Investors, meanwhile, are hoping for more and the shares
closed on Friday at $14.57.
For previous stories on the GSK bid for Human Genome see
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Sophie Walker)
