Amarin Falls After Financing Suggests Buyout Not Imminent
Amarin Corp. (AMRN), the maker of the cholesterol-lowering medicine Vascepa, plunged the most in almost two years after investors lost confidence that the company will soon be acquired.
Amarin declined 19 percent to $9.69 at 4 p.m. New York time, the most since January 2010. The Dublin-based company’s shares have gained 31 percent in the past 12 months.
Investors had expected Amarin to sell itself or find a partner to market Vascepa, the company’s treatment for severely high levels of triglycerides, said Akiva Felt, an analyst for Wedbush Securities in San Francisco. Instead, the company announced yesterday that it raised $100 million and started hiring a sales force for the medicine. The financing from Pharmakon Advisors and the start of a sales force may mean no sale is on horizon, he said.
“The concern is that this may be a signal that a deal isn’t imminent,” Felt said in a telephone interview yesterday. “There had been expectations that there would be a strategic agreement in the near term.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net; Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net
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