Goldman Sachs is advising a $10bn (_7.4bn) US pharmaceutical company on a possible sale after rival Schering-Plough called in the bank last month to act on a $14.5bn takeover.
Maryland-based MedImmune has authorized management to evaluate whether third parties would have an interest in acquiring the company.
In February MedImmune's board said it believed that the best way for the company to maximize value for its stockholders was to aggressively implement its business plan. Today MedImmune said in a statement: "Indications of interest by major pharmaceutical companies, coupled with recent expressions by certain stockholders of dissatisfaction with the company's short-term stock price performance, have led the board to authorize management to gather information regarding possible strategic interest in acquiring the company."
The company is also using law firm Dewey Ballantine to assist with the process. In March Schering-Plough called in Goldman Sachs to advise it on an _11bn ($14.5bn) takeover of Organon, the human and animal healthcare division of Akzo Nobel. The US bank had earlier worked on a failed bid for the business on behalf of a private equity consortium.
Morgan Stanley is advising Akzo on the sale, which is expected to close by the end of the year. The deal concludes what appears to be a dual-track process in which Akzo executives simultaneously examined selling the company or floating its shares. These deals are the latest in a string of pharmaceutical advisory mandates for Goldman.
Last October, Goldman won four advisory mandates, including advising Germany's Altana on the _4.5bn sale of its pharmaceutical business to Nycomed in Denmark and advising Serono, the Swiss biotechnology company, on its Sfr16.6bn takeover by Merck.