Biogen Idec (BIIB)
Index Membership: S&P 500 Nasdaq 100 Sector: Healthcare Industry: Biotechnology & Drugs Employees (last reported count): 995
______________________________________ Reuters Biotech companies Biogen, Idec complete merger Wednesday November 12, 6:13 pm ET
LOS ANGELES, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Biogen Inc. (NasdaqNM:BGEN - News) and Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NasdaqNM:IDPH - News) on Wednesday completed their planned merger, forming the third-largest biotech company after Amgen Inc. (NasdaqNM:AMGN - News) and Genentech Inc. (NYSE:DNA - News).
Shareholders of both companies gave the final stamp of approval to the deal, valued near $6 billion, at special meetings held on Wednesday.
The combined company, Biogen Idec Inc., is expected to focus on immunology and cancer drugs. It will commence trading on Nasdaq tomorrow under the stock symbol "BIIB" (Nasdaq:BIIB - News).
The new company sports two blockbuster drugs, multiple sclerosis treatment Avonex and Rituxan for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and has 10 experimental products. Biogen Idec said it expects to in-license from other companies about 50 percent of its drug development pipeline by 2010.
The company, citing a beginning net cash balance of more than $1.5 billion, said it remains committed to financial goals including 15 percent compound annual revenue growth and around 20 percent compound annual cash earnings per share growth through 2007.
As a result of the merger, each share of Biogen common stock was converted into the right to receive 1.15 shares of Biogen Idec common stock.
Soundview Technology Group analyst Ronald Renaud on Wednesday initiated coverage of Biogen Idec with a rating of "outperform."
"Although Biogen brings a slower near-term growth rate and Idec brings an anemic pipeline, we believe the merged company can streamline expenses and focus on current and future growth opportunities," he said in a report.
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