Man of Mystery

(Thanks to reader Bob, who caught the timeline errors in our first entry)

Eli Lilly shareholders must have an itchy rash on their heads. Their management is set to pay a hefty $70 per share for cancer drug maker ImClone to rival a sweetened $62 per share bid from Bristol Myers that mercurial investor Carl Icahn has apparently whipped out. The mystery bidder has already completed due diligence and has the cash on hand to manage the deal. Analysts, generally unconvinced that this is a great strategic deal for Lilly. Shareholders could be less likely Lilly has a stomach for a bidding war if Bristol comes back.

Icahn had called Bristol-Myers’ offer, which was increased by $2 per share, “absurd”, and ImClone says the unnamed suitor, who wants to remain shadowy until negotiations are over, does not need financing to put together the $6.1 billion-topping offer.

It seems fitting that the takeover of ImClone should be shrouded in intrigue. Founder Sam Waksal and his friend style icon Martha Stewart went to jail for lying to investigators over suspicious trading in its stock, and Carl Icahn brings his own mercurial blend of color and drama to the scene. One might find it poetic that the identity of this bidder is another stodgy old drug company rather than a media mogul, a style celeb or a flamboyant financier.

Deals of the day:

* British software firm Axon Group is dropping its recommendation of a takeover bid from India’s Infosys Technologies in favor of a higher offer from HCL Technologies , Axon said.

* Commonwealth Bank of Australia denied a media report that it had offered to buy the BankWest business of British bank HBOS, though analysts believed the banks could be in talks.

* Japan’s Fujitsu is in talks with Western Digital and others on the sale of its money-losing hard drive business, a company source said, in a deal one newspaper estimated could be worth $945 million.

* British advertising group WPP said its offer for British market researcher Taylor Nelson Sofres was final and would not be increased.

* Solar products maker Suntech Power said it formed a joint venture with MMA Renewable Ventures, forming Gemini Solar Development, and acquired EI Solutions, a California-based commercial solar system integration company.

* Singapore-listed Thai Beverage said it is making an offer for the remaining 56 percent of Thai food firm Oishi at 37 baht per share, totaling 3.89 billion baht ($114.6 million).

* Australian zinc miner CBH Resources made another offer to buy rival Perilya, worth as much as A$60 million ($47 million), seeking to link up their nearby mines.