GlaxoSmithKline has put back the deadline for its $2.6bn hostile bid for Human Genome Sciences after failing to collect 1 per cent of shares in a tender direct to investors.
The UK-based pharmaceutical group said its $13-a-share offer would run for a further month. The terms, which it said represented “full and fair value . . . in the best interests of both companies’ shareholders”, would be unchanged.
Shares in HGS, which has rejected GSK’s offer, are trading above the bid price. The US biotech company urged investors to reject the tender price on Friday, saying it was “inadequate and does not reflect the value inherent” in its business.
It said “the exploration of strategic alternatives . . . including a potential sale”, which it unveiled after news of the GSK offer, was still “fully under way”.
By refusing to participate, GSK was “seeking to circumvent, disrupt and prematurely end the company’s process to the disadvantage of HGS stockholders”, the US group said.
GSK said it “continues to believe that now is the appropriate time . . . for the companies to combine, and that GSK is uniquely positioned to deliver on the opportunity of the combination”.
So far GSK has received 474,029 shares. It expressed concern at a poison pill unveiled by HGS.
Shares in HGS were up 1.5 per cent to $13.43 in afternoon trading in New York.