Roche offers to buy remaining 44% of US biotech giant Genentech for $43.7B

Switzerland-based drug major Roche has made an offer to buy the balance of US biotechnology giant Genentech which it does not already own, at a price of $89.00 per share, or a total of some $43.7 billion. The bid, announced early European time on July 21 and long before US markets opened, is a premium of 8.8% on the previous trading day's closing price and 19% over a month.

The premium is seen by some observers to be fairly low: Credit Suisse, reported by Reuters, noted that the average for recent biotechnology buys was about 63%; others suggested that minority shareholders would likely seek to get a little more. Roche gained control of Genentech in 1990, and now owns 55.9% of the firm, which has become the leading biotechnology company by capitalization, having overtaken fellow USA-based Amgen.

Greater operational efficiency