Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Erich Hunziker, chief financial officer of Roche Holding AG, said talks with Genentech Inc. are “on track,” and a takeover by the Swiss drugmaker wouldn’t cause the company to cut its dividend.

Hunziker made the remarks in a speech at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. He declined to comment on a Financial Times report last week that said Basel, Switzerland-based Roche planned to raise the bid to $95.

Roche, which owns 56 percent of the South San Francisco, California, biotechnology company, offered $43.7 billion, or $89 a share, on July 21 for the Genentech shares it doesn’t own. An independent committee of Genentech directors rejected the bid as too low.

“I’m not commenting” on a raised bid, Hunziker said during a question and answer session with analysts today. “Let the independent directors of Genentech do their job. Everything is going as planned.”

In his speech, the Roche CFO showed a slide reaffirming objectives to increase the dividend over the next three years. Asked by an analyst about reports Roche might cut its dividend to help pay for the Genentech deal, Hunziker said: “No.”

Genentech shares rose $1.13, or 1.3 percent, to $87.47 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Roche fell 5.8 Swiss francs, or 3.4 percent, to 166.1 francs in Zurich trading.

Hunziker said deals comparable to Roche’s takeover of Genentech show the process takes a year.

“Everything is on track,” he said.

He also addressed the fear in California’s biotechnology region that completing the takeover would squelch the entrepreneurial spirit and “destroy an icon.”

Even during the recession, “the cuts we intend to do at Roche are much tougher” than any planned for Genentech, he said. Roche won’t “kill the hens that laid the golden eggs,” Hunziker said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marilyn Chase in San Francisco at mchase6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 12, 2009 16:23 EST