RUMORS FLYING OVER AMGEN.

Byline: Ben Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

The recent wave of multibillion-dollar mergers may be pulling in one of the area's largest companies.

DuPont Co. reportedly is considering a $25 billion takeover bid for Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc., according to an unnamed money manager in Business Week's ``Inside Wall Street'' column.

The rumored offer - which has been neither confirmed nor denied by officials with either company - comes at a time of mega-mergers in the telecom, banking and entertainment industries, and after a flood of promising news on biotech treatments for cancer.

DuPont's bid - $25 billion, or $95 a share - would be considerably higher than Amgen's current market value. The biotech firm's stock closed Thursday at $61.812, giving it a market capitalization of $15.7 billion.

DuPont officials could not be reached for comment after the story first surfaced late Thursday. Amgen spokesman David Kaye said his company would not comment on rumors. ``They come up all the time,'' Kaye said.

But while still only speculation, the prospect of a company buying Amgen came as little surprise to analysts who follow the company.

Amgen is the world's largest independent biotechnology firm, with annual sales from its two standard-bearer drugs topping $2 billion. The company is the largest publicly-traded firm headquartered in Ventura County and employs more than 5,000 people.

The firm has seen its sales growth slow in recent years and has no blockbuster products ready to make up the difference.

``They're facing a big earnings-growth shortfall in the next one to three years,'' said analyst Charles Engelberg at San Francisco-based AmeriCal Securities. ``That's their weakness.''

What Amgen has going for it - and what would make it attractive to a company like DuPont - is a research and development infrastructure unmatched among other biotech players. The company spent $152.5 million on R&D in the first three months of this year, and it has 12 potential medicines in various stages of development for diseases ranging from obesity to cancer.

DuPont has made clear it plans to be a major player in the biotechnology arena. Earlier this week, it agreed to buy drug maker Merk & Co.'s stake in a biotech joint venture the firms operate. And DuPont Chief Executive Charles Holliday Jr. has said he expects drugs and biotechnology to account for one third of the company's sales within five years, compared to 18 percent today.

Engelberg said that while substantial, DuPont's reported $95-a-share offer would not be excessive. ``They're just going to pay for it with their own stock, and that makes it all paper money anyway,'' he said.

DuPont shares have zoomed 34 percent this year and hit a 52-week high Wednesday of $82.75. The issue closed slightly lower Thursday at $81.50.

In fact, it is the raging bull market that has fueled many of the recent mergers, from biotech to banking. Earlier this year BankAmerica Corp. agreed to merge with NationsBank in a $65 billion deal, and Thursday Seagram Co. agreed to pay $10.6 billion in cash and stock for Dutch entertainment giant PolyGram NV.

A proposed merger announced in January between drug giants SmithKline Beecham Plc and Glaxo Wellcome Plc fell apart after management of the two companies failed to agree on a strategy for running the combined firm.