Indianapolis – Troubled Guidant Corp. drew a $25 billion offer from medical device rival Boston Scientific Corp., topping Johnson & Johnson’s watered-down bid by more than $3 billion.
Guidant’s once flagging stock rose $6.16, or nearly 10 percent, to close at $67.98 amid Wall Street’s speculation of a bidding war.
Market analysts said that J&J, which did not return calls for comment, may not want Guidant badly enough to spend billions more for the Indianapolis-based maker of pacemakers, defibrillators and other devices that has been plagued by recalls and related regulatory investigations.
It was just three weeks ago that Guidant accepted a revised $21.5 billion proposal from J&J and stopped suing the health care products company to close on a year-old acquisition offer of $25.4 billion.
Boston Scientific, whose products include the top-selling cardiac stent Taxus, offered Guidant cash and stock worth about $72 per Guidant share – a 16 percent premium over Friday’s close. The prospect of entering the $10 billion international market for implantable devices outweighed Guidant’s recent woes.
