According to an unnamed source close to thesituation who was cited by Reuters—the same one who said candidates havealready been chosen for an attempted board turnover—GSK will wait, however, tosee how HGS progresses in it ongoing efforts to find a buyer in a separateauction process. Depending on how that pans out, GSK will decide its next movein the $2.6 billion hostile takeover bid, including whether to try to replace HGS'sboard.
Although GSK already has an advantage over any potential"white knight" rival bidders—because the company has partnerships with HGS ontwo key experimental drugs and the two jointly sell Benlysta—some are sayingthat Celgene Corp. is interested in bidding for HGS, based on unnamed sources.
Other market watchers, citing different unnamedsources, say Celgene has no such interest and that the story may simply havebeen a rumor planted to encourage GSK to raise its $13-per-share offer.
