ICOS/hedge funds Gilding the Lilly

ICOS has sold itself cheap. Yet the only likely buyer of the biotech is the purchaser, Eli Lilly. That isn’t stopping rebel investors such as HealthCor Management from demanding that Lilly up its $1.1bn purchase price. Lilly is paying only an 18% premium based on ICOS’ closing price the day before the bid. Considering that 50% premiums for biotechs are common and 100% premiums occasionally occur, the ICOS premium seems oddly low. It looks doubly strange considering management’s optimism. Offeri...