King Ups Alpharma Offer

King Pharmaceuticals sweetened its offer to purchase Alpharma this morning. The drug firm boosted the bid price to $37 per share or $1.6 billion from the initial of $33 a share it presented in early August. If Alpharma refuses, King is prepared to get down and dirty.

In a pointed letter to Alpharma’s board, King President and CEO Brian A. Markison stated that every effort to negotiate terms and costs with Alpharma has been ignored.

“While we would prefer to work cooperatively with you and your Board to complete a negotiated transaction, our Board of Directors has authorized management to commence a tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock of Alpharma for $37 per share in cash, which we intend to do promptly.”

On August 22, Alpharma President and CEO Dean J. Mitchell rejected King’s initial offer stating, “the proposal is inadequate and does not reflect the Company’s inherent value.” Mitchell accused Markison of publicly commenting on negotiations without a confidentiality agreement and noted that the offer was not up to snuff because of potential earnings of Alpharma’s pain drug Embeda, currently under review by FDA.