MedImmune To Explore Sale

Is MedImmune up for sale? According to a company statement, the board of directors at the company “has authorized management to evaluate whether third parties would have an interest in acquiring the company at a price and on terms that would represent a better value for its stockholders than having the company continue to execute its business plan on a stand-alone basis.”

In February, the board announced that the company was sticking to its guns, but evidently MedImmune has received “indications of interest by major pharmaceutical companies, coupled with recent expressions by certain stockholders of dissatisfaction with the company’s short-term stock price performance,” leading to the search for a possible buyer.

The company has retained the services of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Dewey Ballantine LLP to help with the process and contends that it is “well under way,” which raises some questions with this editor about the validity of the February announcement.