By Stine Jacobsen
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Leading diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk (CO:NOVOb) is expected to pick former oil boss Helge Lund as its new chairman as the company contends with increasing price pressure and seeks new acquisitions to broaden its blood products line-up.
The man dubbed by some as Norway's Mr Oil because of his extensive career in the oil and gas industry may be more of an expert in hydrocarbons than insulin, but his merger and acquisitions experience is the big draw for the Danish pharmaceuticals company.
Novo is on the hunt for promising assets to boost its struggling blood products business after it lost out to French rival Sanofi (PA:SASY) in the chase for Belgian biotech company Ablynx (BR:ABLX) in late January.
Novo said it dropped its pursuit of Ablynx, which is developing an experimental drug for a rare blood disorder, because it could not justify the high price required to beat Sanofi's offer.
Lund is expected to be appointed at Novo's annual general meeting on Thursday.
"We are about to see Novo take on a role that we have not seen before and therefore it is important to have a chairman with experience of mergers and acquisitions," said Sydbank analyst Soren Lontoft Hansen.
Lund oversaw Kvaerner's (OL:KVAER) merger with Aker Maritime. He later became head of Statoil (OL:STL), where he was in charge during the oil major's $30 billion acquisition of Norsk Hydro's petroleum business.
In his next role as chief executive of BG Group, Lund went from being the guy doing the buying to being bought as Royal Dutch Shell's (L:RDSa) takeover of the British oil and gas company was announced only two months after he started the job.
The 55-year old Norwegian, also a passionate fan of English soccer club Arsenal, will replace Goran Ando, who steps down after five years in the job.
Another crucial task for the new chairman will be to retain investor trust after the company cut its long-term growth revenue outlook twice within nine months in 2016.
Novo now has a long-term target of 5 percent revenue growth, a far cry from the from the double-digit growth achieved in 2015 and reflecting a more challenging diabetes market amid increased competition and price erosion.
"Helge is very strong strategically and very oriented towards growth," said former Statoil chairman Svein Rennemo, who worked closely with Lund for several years.
Lund will work with a relatively new management team, including Chief Executive Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, who started last year, and Karsten Munk Knudsen, who became finance chief last month.