Unable to win over the board of director at CV Therapeutics, Japan's Astellas is taking its $16 a share bid straight to shareholders. And that could set the stage for a battle to oust CEO Louis Lange, whose board seat comes up for election at this year's annual meeting.
"While we continue to prefer to reach a negotiated agreement with CV Therapeutics' board, their refusal to engage with us regarding our proposal has left us with no alternative but to take our offer directly to CV Therapeutics' stockholders," said Astellas in a statement. "We believe our offer provides CV Therapeutics' stockholders with immediate cash value that exceeds what the company could reasonably expect to deliver on it own, particularly given current uncertain market conditions and execution risks inherent in CV Therapeutics' standalone strategy."
Astellas tender offer represents a 41 percent premium to CV Therapeutics' closing share price on January 26, 2009, the day prior to the public disclosure of Astellas' proposal.
- check out Astellas' release