Will AstraZeneca PLC Bid for Amarin Corporation PLC? Rumors Swirl

AstraZeneca's new boss Pascal Soriot didn’t mess about when on his first day in the job he announced the suspension of the drugs group’s £2.8bn share buy-back program. Shareholders were obviously miffed, but analysts took it as a definite sign that he wanted to save the cash for earnings enhancing acquisitions. Soriot recently spent up to £169m on the rights to an experimental kidney drug, but rumours now suggest he has something much bigger up his sleeve. AZ’s shares shed 38p to 2900p ahead of tomorrow’s third-quarter trading statement. The fall was accompanied by speculation Soriot is planning to launch a cash bid for US biopharmaceutical group Amarin, whose shares moved against the trend on Wall Street yesterday with an early gain to $11.61.