While speculation swirled around who would buy Biogen Idec Inc. and whether Genzyme Corp. would be next, out comes Celgene Corp. on November 19 with a $2.9 billion cash and stock offer for specialty pharma firm Pharmion Corp. , made up of 35% cash and 65% equity, at an almost-50% premium to the previous working day’s close. [See Deal] "We didn’t see this coming," admitted Citigroup analyst Yaron Werber, MD, on the conference call following the announcement.
Neither did we. But the deal makes sense. It’s another case of licenser buying licensee; Pharmion had in 2001 acquired...
