(Adds more details from emailed statement and background)
Aug 8 (Reuters) - Philip Morris has raised its bid
for British drugmaker Vectura to 165 pence ($2.29) per
share, the tobacco company said on Sunday.
"The PMI (Philip Morris International) increased offer
values the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital
of Vectura at approximately 1.02 billion pounds ($1.41
billion)," it said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
The latest offer represents a premium of approximately 10
pence per share to a rival offer of 155 pence a share by
U.S.-based Carlyle Group announced on Friday.
Carlyle offered to buy Vectura for about 958 million pounds
($1.3 billion).
Vectura, which makes respiratory treatments, had said on
Friday that it was backing Carlyle's offer and withdrawing its
recommendation for Philip Morris' proposal, adding that it might
be better positioned under Carlyle's ownership.
Vectura did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment on Sunday.
"PMI intends to operate Vectura as an autonomous business
unit that will form the backbone of its inhaled therapeutics
business," Philip Morris said in the statement.
The previously agreed deal with Philip Morris came as big
tobacco companies are trying to alter their image after years of
negative press and lawsuits for marketing and selling
health-harming cigarettes, which health advocates and experts
say continues to be a leading cause of preventable deaths
worldwide.
($1 = 0.7209 pounds)
(Reporting by Vishal Vivek and Priyanshi Mandhan in Bengaluru;
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Alistair Bell)