Analysts: BMS lowballing ImClone

Who would you lay bets on: Carl Icahn [1] or Jim Cornelius [2]? The Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO has hit back at ImClone Chairman Icahn, with a contention that the company's $60-per-share offer is "full and fair." As for Icahn's insinuation that BMS somehow had inside info [3] when formulating its bid, the company says no way. And Bristol says that, by its reading of its contract with ImClone, it does have rights to the experimental drug that Icahn said would compete with star performer Erbitux.

But war of words aside, BMS may very well end up having to pay more for its Erbitux partner. A Wall Street Journal survey of analysts found that they're valuing ImClone at anywhere from $62 a share to $73. And, the WSJ notes, historical premiums for oncology-company buyouts run more to 48 percent rather than the 30 percent Bristol is offering. At that historical premium, the price would be $65 to $70 a share. What do all those valuations have in common? They're all more than $60 [4].

- see the Forbes story [5]
- check out the post [6] at the WSJ Health Blog
- read the CNN Money story [7]

Related Articles:
ImClone plays hard to get, considers spin-off [8]
Icahn throws wrench into ImClone offer [3]
BMS bids $4.5B for ImClone [4]
Icahn: Biotechs must merge with Big Pharma [9]
Icahn takes control of ImClone as CEO departs [10]