Cinven departs from Elan Drug Technologies auction

LONDON One of the potential buyers of Irish drug maker Elan Drug Technologies has dropped out of the auction, according to the Financial Times.

Despite the announcement of private equity house Cinven’s departure, Bain Capital and TPG are still bidding and KKR has also shown an interest in the company, which is a subsidiary of larger company Elan. Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers are carrying out the auction.

Elan will likely sell EDT for $1.5 billion so that it can focus on biotechnology. Shares of Elan—the largest listed company in Ireland—dropped by almost half after its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri was linked to a potentially deadly brain disease.