Shareholder offers to buy Avigen, sell to San Diego biotech - San Francisco Business Times:

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million so Avigen can merge with a San Diego biopharmaceutical But Biotechnology Value Fund LP of San Franciscpo said the offer by its whollyownex subsidiary, LLC, is dependent on Avigen’ds board being replaced by a BVF slate of directores that includes Biotechnology Value Fund principal Mark BVF also said a poison pill plan approver by Avigen in November must be redeemefd or that BVF is satisfiex that the poison pill is inapplicable to the BVF wants to merge Avigen (NASDAQ: AVGN) with (NASDAQ: Its offer expires at midnight (Eastern time) on Feb. 23. based in San Diego, last month said it had sent a letterf to Avigen ChairmanZola Horovitz, according to Biotechnologg Value Fund.
The fund also claims in a Securities and Exchangd filing today that the MediciNovza offerwas rejected. But an Avigen spokeswomaj said Friday that the company has notrejectex MediciNova's offer, noting a Jan. 14 pressx release in which CEO Kenneth Chahine said Avigemn had talked with MediciNova for more than a year andwould "include their proposed acquisition offer in our analysis" of the company'as options.
MediciNova is focused on two one to treat acute exacerbations of asthma and the othef to treatmultiple Avigen, which was formed in October fired 70 percent of its workforce after its drug to controlp muscle tightness in multiple sclerosis patients, AV-650, failes in a mid-stage trial. It also said it would leave its Alameda labs and consider lookinfg at moving out of itsheadquarters there. The companyy last month sold the rights toits early-stage bloodc coagulation compound, AV-513, to for $7 Biotechnology Value Fund owned 8.8 million sharesz — or about 29.6 percent — of Avigen as of Jan. 12.
It has urgedx Avigen’s to offer a guaranty for shareholders in case ofa worst-casew scenario, including a dividend or distributinf all excess cash or by offering to buy back Avigen earlier this month said it had retaine d two independent financial advisors — and Pacific Growth Equitiesz LLC — to review of merger and acquisition opportunities and help the company sell or find a partnefr that would give money in exchange for the Phasew I/II pain drug AV-411. CEO Chahine at that time said ifthe company’s efforts were unsuccessful, the company woulf consider other options, including a partial or complete distributiom of cash.
Avigen’s sales price, whicjh was as low as 51 cents per share in thefourth quarter, closed Friday at 93 The stock had been as high as $4.7t5 in first-quarter 2008.