Swiss biotechnology company Serono, which has been the focus of takeover speculation for months, said Friday it planned to issue up to 7 billion Swiss francs ($5.4 billion) in new shares to increase capital and possibly fund its own acquisitions.

Serono said its decision to issue up to 7.62 million new shares "could result in a sale of, merger of, or one or more acquisitions by, the company," it said.

Serono became the subject of takeover speculation in November after it said it had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to evaluate strategic options, including a possible sale to a bigger competitor.

Since then, major pharmaceutical companies including Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Sanofi-Aventis SA and Pfizer Inc. have been mentioned as interested, but no deal has emerged.

"Though it's not clear what is going to happen now, the latest move indicates that the company is more likely to remain on a stand-alone basis and pursue takeovers," said Bob Pooler, an analyst at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch.

Pooler said he expects Serono to buy individual products to improve its portfolio, which currently depends almost exclusively on sales from a single drug, multiple-sclerosis medicine Rebif.

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