Euronet drops bid to take over MoneyGram Shares of MoneyGram International Inc., the St. Louis Park-based money transfer business, fell 19 percent after Euronet Worldwide Inc. said it won't renew a takeover bid for the company. The "current debt and equity markets" prevent Euronet from making an offer that makes financial sense, Michael Brown, chief executive of Kansas-based Euronet, said Thursday. MoneyGram fended off an unsolicited takeover bid from Euronet by agreeing Feb. 12 to raise as much as $1.5 billion from a group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners. MoneyGram fell 89 cents to close at $3.70.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Cordis, Wyeth sue Medtronic over patents Johnson & Johnson's Cordis unit and Wyeth sued Medtronic Inc. of Fridley, seeking to halt sales of a drug-coated heart stent that the plaintiffs say violates Wyeth patents. Wyeth and Cordis claim Medtronic's Endeavor coated stent infringes three patents owned by Wyeth and licensed to Cordis for ways of using medicine to prevent growth of scar tissue in arteries. Medtronic won approval to sell Endeavor Feb. 1. Cordis and Wyeth seek a court order that would prevent Medtronic from selling Endeavor until the patent dispute is resolved, plus cash compensation. Marybeth Thorsgaard, a spokeswoman for Medtronic, declined to comment.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
U.S. investigating ex-Piper Jaffray employee Piper Jaffray Companies disclosed Thursday in its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission that one of its former employees is the target of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Minneapolis-based financial services company didn't disclose the name of the employee, who was fired.
DOW JONES
