US tobacco giant Philip Morris has bought up more shares of London-listed inhaler maker Vectura.
PMI announced on Wednesday that it had snapped up just over 135.5m Vectura shares at 165p price per share, or a stake of around 22.6%.
On Thursday, the company said it had bought a further 39.3m shares, taking its total shareholding to 174.8m, which is equivalent to a 29.2% stake.
“PMI does not currently intend to make any further market purchases of Vectura shares,” it said.
Vectura announced last week that its directors were planning to unanimously recommend a takeover by PMI at 165p a share.
Shareholders in Vectura have until 15 September to decide whether to sell their shares to Philip Morris, which will need for more than 50% of shareholders to accept its offer for the deal to go through.
