Pfizer refuses to budge from $6 Per Share Offer for Icagen

Earlier on Friday, Pfizer notified Icagen’s board that its final buy out offer for Icagen would be priced at $6 per share. Despite the fact that a vast majority of Icagen’s shares are not tendered, the drug developer informed that it would not increase its July takeover offer due to expire on August 31.

Pfizer’s senior vice president of worldwide business development, Douglas Giordano, informed Icagen’s board through a letter stating, “We thought it appropriate to reaffirm unambiguously, as we made clear when negotiating the merger agreement with you, that $6 per share is our best and final price.” He added that although the tender offer requires that a majority of Icagen investors agree to the deal, “if a majority of shares are not tendered, however, we still will not raise our offer.”

Although many large investors believe that Pfizer’s could do better than the present offer, they have been requested by Icagen CEO, P. Kay Wagoner, to tender their shares. Based on trial data of an investigational pain drug jointly developed by Pfizer and Icagen, two investment firms that own more than 10% of Icagen stock opine that Icagen could be thrice as valuable than the present offer. The firms have refused to budge from their stance of tendering their shares at the present offer price.