Bristol-Myers defends plan to buy Celgene, urges investors to vote 'yes'

In the face of two significant investor objections to Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (NYSE: BMY) proposed takeover of biotech firm Celgene (Nasdaq: CELG), the US pharma major filed an investor presentation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the board of directors sent an open letter to the company’s shareholders defending the deal, ahead of the April 12 investors’ vote.

"Bristol-Myers Squibb determined that acquiring Celgene's Big-5 late-stage pipeline, plus its 22 Phase I and II clinical programs, would represent a bundled 'string-of-pearls' that in totality offers a greater value creation opportunity than other strategic alternatives," the company said.

Following the announcement, B-MS’ shares slipped 1.69% to 52.89, while Celgene stock rose a modest 0.38% to 86.58 by close of trading on Wednesday.