Amgen Inc. is studying a takeover offer for Actelion Ltd. and may approach the Swiss drugmaker as early as this week, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
Actelion recently learned of a potential bid from Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, a source who declined to be named because the process is private, told Bloomberg News. Amgen hasn’t made a final decision and a formal offer may not emerge, one of the people said, and an Amgen spokesman declined to comment.
Chief Executive Jean-Paul Clozel, who has said he wants the company he founded to stay independent, has discussed asking Roche Holding AG, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to consider taking a minority stake as a defensive measure, the Bloomberg sources said. Actelion, based in Allschwil, Switzerland, has a market value of $6.5 billion in U.S. dollars.
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