Elan shares rise as investors vote against transactions

Elan shares rose the first time in three days this morning, after a majority of investors voted against three of four proposals that stand in the way of Royalty Pharma's $6.7 billion bid for the Irish biotechnology company.

Elan gained as much as 2.8 per cent and was trading up 1.5 per cent to €9.43 at 9.04 am in Dublin. The stock has gained 20 per cent this year.

A sufficient number of Elan shareholders have voted against two transactions proposed by the company's board, while a narrow majority opposes a third proposal, Royalty Pharma said today in a statement.

A share buyback has the backing of a narrow majority of investors, it said. Investor support of any of the four proposals would require Dublin-based Royalty Pharma to withdraw its offer under an Irish Takeover Panel ruling.

“Royalty Pharma is seeking judicial review of this decision of the Irish Takeover Panel, but there can be no assurance that such judicial review will result in any change to that decision,” said Royalty Pharma.

Elan shareholders are casting votes in advance of an investor meeting on June 17 in Dublin. Balloting ends at 10am Dublin time tomorrow.

The Irish commercial court granted a temporary injunction yesterday and set a hearing for June 19 to review the Irish takeover panel’s ruling that Royalty Pharma end its bid in the event any of the four transactions are approved on June 17, a Royalty Pharma spokeswoman said yesterday.

As of 3pm in New York yesterday, holders of about 311 million American depository receipts in Dublin-based Elan, representing more than 81 per cent of ADRs held by shareholders in their brokers’ names, had voted on the board proposals, said Royalty Pharma, an investor in royalty streams from medicines.

The four transactions under consideration are a $1 billion investment in Theravance Inc.’s royalties, a $340 million takeover of Vienna-based AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals, the sale of an experimental drug called ELND005 for Alzheimer’s disease to Speranza Therapeutics and $200 million in share buybacks. Elan’s US shares fell 3.7 per cent to $12.61 in New York trading yesterday.

Bloomberg