By Aaron Gray-Block
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - An offer for Crucell from U.S. healthcare company Johnson & Johnson was "not a done deal," Delta Lloyd Asset Management said after another top shareholder in the Dutch biotechnology firm heightened its resistance to a possible deal.
Regulatory filings earlier on Friday showed the Van Herk Group, which has criticized J&J's $2.3 billion offer for Crucell company as "meager and too early," has increased its stake since the potential bid was announced last week.
Johnson & Johnson said last week it was in talks with Crucell to pay 1.75 billion euros ($2.3 billion) for the Dutch biotech firm as it seeks to catapult itself into the global vaccine market.
"It is not a done deal, we still have to make up our minds about whether to tender our shares," said Jack Jonk, head of equity at Delta Lloyd Asset Management, which holds about a 4 percent stake in Crucell, making it the third biggest investor.
Jonk added Crucell was heavily undervalued and the premium potentially on offer from J&J would "generate a nice profit," but Delta Lloyd Asset Management would enter into talks with both Crucell and J&J to discuss whether it was enough.
Delta Lloyd Asset Management has been in contact with other shareholders, including the Van Herk Group, which has previously criticized the potential offer price and is the second largest shareholder in Crucell behind J&J.
"We take our own view. It is good to know what others think, but we choose our own path," Jonk said.
Jonk added that he saw strategic sense in the deal because Crucell was a natural fit for J&J, but also questioned whether Crucell had been granted sufficient time to create value.
Crucell was not immediately available for comment.
Crucell shares in Amsterdam were up 0.82 percent at 24.66 euros at 10:16 a.m. EDT, but below the 24.75 euros J&J is offering. The shares were in line with the Amsterdam Midcap index.
INCREASED STAKE
According to a September 22 filing with the Dutch market regulator AFM published on Friday, Van Herk Group holds 10.02 percent of Crucell shares, up from 9.6 percent in a filing of December 2009.
Van Herk managing director Gertjan van der Baan told Reuters the group had increased its stake actively after J&J announced the offer and that Van Herk had exercised some options.
"We have not seen a reason yet to change our mind about the offer," he said.
Crucell has said the deal could close by the end of the year, and that its supervisory and management boards would recommend shareholders tender their shares to the offer.
(Reporting by Aaron Gray-Block, Harro ten Wolde and Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Mike Nesbit and Hans Peters)
