Johnson & Johnson moves forward with 24.75-euro bid for full control of Crucell

US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is making a recommended cash offer for all of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares Netherlands-based vaccine maker Crucell NV (Euronext: CRXC), at the previously-announced price of 24.75 euros a share, to take full control of the company of which it already owns 17.9% (The Pharma Letter September 17). That means J&J will pay 1.75 billion euros ($2.3 billion) for the balance of the shares.

The offer represents a premium of 58% over the 15.70-euro closing price of the ordinary shares as of September 16, 2010, the day before J&J and Crucell announced they were in negotiations for the offer, and a premium of 63% over the 30-day trading average of 15.20 euros as of that date. The Crucell board, which fully supports the deal, will bring the offer to a shareholder vote on Feb. 8. The minimum acceptance level will be 80 percent of the shares, assuming certain conditions are met.

The original suggested bid generated some shareholder objections, including from investor Van Herk Groep, who said the offer should be at a level of 27.50 per share. Ahead of the latest announcement, Crucell’s shares were trading at 23.90 euros.