Royalty Pharma last year urged Elan to hold off on a multi-billion dollar drug deal until it had taken the Irish drugmaker private to boost the compensation the firms' executives would receive, Elan said on Wednesday. Royalty submitted a $5.7 billion bid for the Dublin-based firm this month, standing by a reduced price in the face of Elan's insistence it is worth more. Elan rejected the $11.25 per share bid last month and is determined to keep its independence.Elan's charge on Wednesday that Royalty wanted executives to benefit from the sale of its share in blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri at the expense of shareholders comes two weeks before those shareholders make up their minds on the bid.The claim marks the latest effort by Elan management to persuade the company's shareholders to reject Royalty's offer. Chief executive Kelly Martin said in an interview with Reuters this week that he had not spoken to one shareholder who thought Royalty's bid was credible.In February, Elan sold its 50 percent interest in the drug to U.S. partner Biogen Idec for $3.25 billion plus royalty rights of up to 25 percent. It will hand over a fifth of that royalty stream to shareholders and has also bought back $1 billion of shares with the proceeds.
Biogen Idec Inc. (Biogen Idec) is a global biotechnology company. Shares of BIIB fell by 1.18% or $-2.71/share to $227.13. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $126.39 and as high as $217.80. On average, 1430700 shares of BIIB exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 933715.
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