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 BOSTON (AP) - Medical device maker Guidant Corp. on Friday night accepted an increased $24.2 billion buyout offer from Johnson & Johnson, turning aside a larger bid of nearly $25 billion from Boston Scientific Corp. in favor of a deal that Guidant hopes could be concluded more quickly.
The joint announcement of Guidant's acceptance of J&J's bid came about 24 hours after Boston Scientific increased its offer by about $330 million to $24.98 billion, and about three hours after passage of a deadline Boston Scientific had set for Guidant to respond.
The boards of both J&J and Guidant have unanimously approved the new J&J offer, which Guidant shareholders will consider in a Jan. 31 vote, the companies said. Guidant's board had previously accepted J&J's earlier $23.2 billion offer presented Wednesday night, but Boston Scientific's move to raise its proposal Thursday night prompted J&J to increase its bid a second time.
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