NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Ventana Medical Systems has offered Roche a glimpse into its financial health as it hopes to convince the Swiss drug and diagnostics giant to spend some more on it than the $3 billion dollars it continues to offer.
Tucson, Ariz.-based Ventana, which has snubbed Roche’s unsolicited bid to acquire it at least four times, said it hopes the due diligence and related talks will “allow Roche to recognize the significant additional value inherent in Ventana's business.”
The step will give Roche access to information about Ventana’s business prospects and the value of its companion diagnostics.
Roche has extended at least four times its original offer to buy the diagnostics company for $75 a share, or around $3 billion dollars. Ventana has insisted that the offer, made in June, is too small. Today, it said the due-diligence agreement will make it evident that the standing offer is “grossly inadequate.”
Ventana added that it makes no assurances that this agreement allowing due diligence will lead to a merger, and reiterated that its board believes the current offer price “does not appropriately compensate Ventana’s stockholders for the inherent value of the company or its synergistic value to Roche.”