Were its scientists consulted before their healthcare company was sold to a tobacco giant?
The directors of Vectura finally emerged and spoke late on Thursday: stuff all our previous ethical boasts, we’re happy to see a healthcare company – one that develops inhalers to treat lung diseases, no less – sold to a tobacco giant for the sake of a few extra millions in a a billion pound bid contest.
It wasn’t quite like that, of course. The board, chaired by Bruno Angelici, merely pushed out a statement that muttered about “fiduciary duties” and noted that the Philip Morris 165p-a-share bid represents a “superior price” to the 155p from private equity firm Carlyle. It amounts to the same thing.
