Takeover talk boosts Swiss biotech group

Actelion, the Swiss biotech group, was in focus yesterday as takeover rumours circulated, pushing the stock up 5.6 per cent to €57.55.

Sanofi-Aventis, the French drug company, and Roche, its Swiss peer, were touted as possible buyers.

However, traders cast doubt on the bid talk, saying Actelion's share price could be buffeted by the release today of a clinical trial from United Therapeutics, a US rival.

United Therapeutics is due to release results on the trial of Remodulin, its pulmonary hypertension treatment, which are expected to show the treatment is easier to use than Ventavis, the competing drug from Actelion, according to dealers.

Sanofi-Aventis gained 2.2 per cent to €60.54 after reporting forecast-beating profits and raising its full-year outlook.

Roche shares rose 1.9 per cent to SFr220.2.

European equity markets rose on the back of positive results in the banking and pharmaceuticals sectors.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.9 per cent to 1,595.70. Germany's Fresenius Medical Care, the world's largest maker of dialysis machines, climbed 7.9 per cent to €54.73.

The company beat forecasts with a 14 per cent rise in third-quarter profits.

However, GPC Biotech shares plunged 60 per cent to €3.22 after the German company said the late-stage trial of its proposed prostate cancer drug Satraplatin failed to boost the long-term survival prospects of patients.

Another loser was TomTom, the world's largest maker of car navigation devices, which fell 19 per cent to €55.06 as fears grew that the Dutch firm would get locked into a bidding war for digital mapmaker Tele Atlas with US rival Garmin.

Tele Atlas surged 15 per cent to €27.58 after Garmin made a bid of €24.50 per share.

The offer is 15 per cent higher than TomTom's and 48 per cent higher than Tele Atlas's share price in July.

The Tele Atlas acquisition is seen as key to winning the battle for control of the consolidating digital mapmaking sector in the wake of Nokia's $8.1 billion recent takeover of Navteq, the only global rival to Tele Atlas. - (Financial Times service)