ImClone Rebuffs Buyout Bid From Bristol-Myers Squibb

ImClone Systems says its board of directors and outside advisers are reviewing Bristol-Myers Squibb's $4.5 billion bid to acquire the 83% of the biopharmaceutical company it doesn't already own. The board's initial view, however, is that the $60-per-share offer "substantially undervalues" the firm. ImClone's stock price jumped from about $45 per share before the offer to about $64 per share now. ImClone Chairman Carl C. Icahn, who owns 14% of the company, says he opposes the offer. The company also has indicated that other large stockholders oppose it as well. ImClone's board has been considering separating the company into two businesses, one focused on its Erbitux anticancer drug, which was codeveloped with BMS, and the other on its pipeline of five drug candidates. Icahn says he is disturbed that the BMS designee on the ImClone board was privy to discussions about restructuring the company to increase stockholder value. Accordingly, the board is looking at whether BMS had access to confidential information before making its bid.