Given Imaging Ltd. (GIVN)

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Given Imaging Advances Most in Four Months on Buyout
By Matthew Kanterman - Nov 25, 2013 11:13 PM GMT+0200


Given Imaging Ltd. (GIVN) jumped the most in four months in New York after the daily financial Globes said three companies are in talks to buy the Israeli maker of swallowable cameras.
Shares of the Yokneam, Israel-based company advanced 6.7 percent to $22.63, the most since July 15. The stock traded at a premium of $1.11 to Tel Aviv, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Given Imaging and the unnamed companies are in negotiations for a deal that would value the Israeli developer at as much as $800 million, a 12 percent premium to the close today, Globes reported on its website today, without saying how it obtained the information. Discovery Group, which owns about 4 percent of Given Imaging’s shares, said on Oct. 2 that it wants the company to resume exploring sale process after ending a search for a possible merger in January.
“It’s a very strong, attractive, consumable business and a strategic acquirer that already has a gastroenterology sales force could wipe out a significant portion” of their expenses, Bryan Brokmeier, an analyst at Maxim Group LLC, said by phone from New York today. “They do have some shareholders who are pushing them to sell themselves and there’s a lot of synergies to a strategic buyer of acquiring Given.

Fujifilm Holdings Corp. (4901), Olympus Corp. (7733) and Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) are potential buyers, according to Maxim Group.

A spokeswoman for Given Imaging declined to comment when contacted by telephone. Denise Kaigler, a senior vice president of corporate affairs and communications at Boston Scientific in Natick, Massachusetts, said the company doesn’t comment on speculation in an e-mailed statement. Representatives for Fuji and Olympus couldn’t be reached by e-mail after normal business hours in Tokyo.
To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Kanterman in New York at [e-mail]