ValueHuntr's  Instablog

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We have exited our position in Facet Biotech (FACT) for a net gain of 58% since our posting on the company last April.

Biogen Idec Inc. said Friday it offered to buy its partner Facet Biotech Corp. for $356 million, and at the same time criticized Facet for entering a partnership with Trubion Pharmaceuticals Inc. last week.

Biogen said it would pay $14.50 per share for Redwood City, Calif.-based Facet. Biogen said the companies have been working together since 2005 to develop the cancer drug candidate volociximab and the multiple sclerosis drug daclizumab.

Life Sciences Research, Inc. (LSR) announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Lion Holdings, Inc., an entity controlled by LSR’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Baker, for $8.50 per share in cash. Mr. Baker currently beneficially owns approximately 17.5% of the outstanding shares of LSR.

On our March 16, 2009 post, we specified that LSR was a special situations play with a high probability of realization. We also pointed out that this was not a long-term play, as its mediocre earnings power did not make it a long-term value candidate. We are now closing our position on LSR, for an absolute return of 20%.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, LSR stockholders, other than Mr. Baker and his affiliates, will receive $8.50 in cash for each outstanding share of LSR common stock, representing a premium of approximately 77 percent over LSR’s closing share price of $4.79 on March 3, 2009, the last trading day prior to public announcement of Mr. Baker’s initial March 3, 2009 proposal to acquire the Company for $7.50 per share. The $8.50 per share purchase price also represents a premium of 13% over Mr. Baker’s initial proposal, and a premium of 18% over LSR’s closing share price of $7.18 on July 8, 2009, the last full trading day prior to today’s announcement.

Soapstone Networks announced yesterday that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a plan of dissolution and liquidation of the Company.

We added SOAP to the Valuehuntr Portfolio on March 9, 2009, after the company announced it was seeking strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value. At the time, the company had nearly $6.0/share in cash, but trading at a market cap of $2.8/share.

As part of the decision to liquidate, SOAP has ceased the development and marketing of the Soapstone Provider Network Controller (PNC) product and has reduced its workforce by 50 to a total of 14 employees.

See story here:

Shares of Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VNDA) skyrocketed today after the company said the FDA approved its schizophrenia drug Fanapt. Vanda plans to begin shipping the drug to pharmacies later this year. The news sent Vanda shares surging nearly tenfold to $10.00 from $1.08. We purchased the stock at $0.80/share, which translates into a whopping 1150% gain, the best individual gain we have had so far.