Irene Birbeck Interviewed on Biotech Market by Investing News

April 16, 2019 | Durham, NC

Partner Irene Birbeck was interviewed on the most impactful biotech news in the first quarter of 2019. An excerpt from the interview and a link to the full article from Investing News are included below. 

In an interview with INN, Irene Birbeck, partner with Clarkston Consulting, said that there were several key M&A’s in the first quarter of the year.

She first exampled the announcement of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE:BMY) acquisition of Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), which came in January, as the major blockbuster deals of Q1. In the same breath, the takeover is also the largest healthcare deal in history. According to Bristol-Myers Squibb’s announcement, the acquisition totals approximately US$74 billion, where Celegene stockholders will get one Bristol-Myesr stock and US$50 in cash for each Celgene stock.

At the beginning of March, however, CNBC reported the deal was in jeopardy as hedge funds Wellington Management and Starboard Value claiming it did not “sit well” with them. In a press release issued by Wellington Management in February, the investment management firm had confirmed that it did not support the acquisition of Celgene. As of February 25, Wellington Management was Bristol Myers’ largest institutional investor, owning 8 percent of the company’s common stock.

By April, however, Bristol-Myers’ shareholders had approved the merger with Celgene, which is projected to complete sometime in Q3 this year.

The second notable M&A Birbeck referenced was Eli Lilly and Co.’s (NYSE:LLY) US$8 billion acquisition of Loxo Oncology, which was first announced in January. By the middle of February, the deal had officially been completed, and will provide Eli Lilly with Loxo Oncology’s “promising pipeline of investigational medicines.”

Read the full article here.