Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) will sell senior notes that are unsecured worth $1.5 billion. Half of that amount is due in two years at a rate of 1.6% while the other half is due in a decade at a rate of 3.25%. The offering will be jointly managed by various investment banks and firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Pierce, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS).
Share buyback
Some of the funds that will be obtained will be used by Bristol-Myers Squibb in a share buyback program while a portion of it will be allocated for the achievement of certain corporate goals. The share buyback program is estimated to cost $2 billion.
Interested individuals or parties can get full details on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The prospectus supplement and the prospectus can also be obtained by contacting any of the underwriters or the issuer. Participating dealers are also in a position to send prospective investors the prospectus supplement or the prospectus.
The offering of the senior notes that are unsecured is being done according to an amended version of the 1933 Securities Act. Terms and conditions of the offering are limited to what has been described in the prospectus or the prospectus supplement.
Activist investors
While Bristol-Myers Squibb’s share buyback program is believed to have been instigated by an activist investor sitting on the board of the biopharmaceutical firm, the company will have to contend with yet another activist investor – Carl Icahn, who has announced that BMS is his next target. Since Icahn made his intentions known, speculation has mounted that if he gets his way the firm may end up being sold or split. With a market capitalization of over $90 billion, selling the biopharmaceutical firm would likely net more than $100 billion.
Currently, the biopharmaceutical company is focused on drugs and treatments that are used in fighting life-threatening diseases such as cancer.
On Wednesday shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co edged up by 1.11% to close the day at $55.35.