Boston Scientific boosts Guidant bid

BOSTON — Boston Scientific Corp. further raised the stakes Thursday in a bidding war to buy rival medical device maker Guidant Corp., boosting its offer by about $330 million in hopes of ousting rival suitor Johnson & Johnson.

Boston Scientific’s sweeter, $73-per share bid came 24 hours after J&J raised its bid for Guidant from $21.5 billion to $23.2 billion. With its new offer of roughly $25 billion, Boston Scientific hopes to turn Guidant’s board away from J&J’s offer and in favor of its proposal quickly.

Boston Scientific said Thursday night it notified Guidant’s board that its latest offer would expire at 4 p.m. EST Friday unless Guidant’s board declared Boston Scientific’s offer superior by then. With such a declaration, Boston Scientific’s offer will remain open until Jan. 24.

J&J and Guidant said in a joint statement Wednesday night that Guidant’s board of directors would recommend shareholders vote in favor of J&J’s offer in a Jan. 31 shareholder meeting.

Under the new offer, Natick-based Boston Scientific will pay $36.50 in cash and $36.50 worth of Boston Scientific shares for each outstanding share of Guidant common stock

J&J’s latest offer would pay $37.25 in cash and 0.493 shares of Johnson & Johnson common stock for each outstanding share of Guidant common stock, or $67.92 per share.

In announcing its initial bid on Sunday, Boston Scientific had said that offer totalled “$25 billion in the aggregate” based on that bid’s $72 per-share price. But in announcing the revised offer Thursday night, Boston Scientific said its intial offer had been $24.6 billion, and that it boosted the total another $330 million in its revised offer, to just under $25 billion.