worth of corporate assets was fomented by years of family friction, analysts said.

Now, the question everyone is asking and no one is answering is what will the closely held, Bermuda-based company do with the money Roche Holding AG pays it for Boehringer Mannheim GmbH, a German drug and diagnostics company, and a controlling interest in DePuy Inc. of the US.

While there are German pharmaceuticals companies ripe for a takeover, analysts say, the family disputes which led Corange to cash out may prevent agreement on what to do with the proceeds.

"They sold the company because of a family dispute,'' said Michael Vara, an analyst with WestLB Research in GmbH. "I'm not sure whether the family is going to use the cash to finance other acquisitions.'' Corange will cease to exist after the close of the Roche deal, which must be approved by antitrust authorities in the US and Europe, said spokeswoman Dorothea Canisius.

The company is owned by four branches of the Engelhorn family. Curt Engelhorn, chairman of the board, owns the largest stake with about 40 percent, she said.

Engelhorn, who turned 71 yesterday, has homes in Bermuda, London and Switzerland, Canisius said. He was not available for comment yesterday. Nor was Corange Ltd. general manager Adolf Luttke.

Engelhorn returned as chairman of the board in 1995 after being squeezed out a year earlier by hand-picked successor Max Link, who previously worked for Sandoz AG. Link was in turn ousted and Engelhorn returned.

Engelhorn's departure and return came as a result of a family dispute over the direction of the company and unprecedented labour problems. The company was substantially restructured between 1994 and 1995 after Mr. Engelhorn won a landmark legal battle over control of the family's trusts.

Corange, a holding company, had 1995 operating profit of $485 million and net profit of $316.7 million, according to its earnings statements.

"I expected that they would come to such a solution,'' said Petra Meyer, an analyst with Oppenheim Finanzanalyse. "It is difficult to say what they will do with the money.'' Smaller German drugmakers such Schwarz Pharma AG and Merck KGaA could be takeover targets, she said.

"The takeover carousel is turning actively again,'' said Antje Witte, an analyst at Trinkaus Capital Management in Dusseldorf.

"There is speculation that the price Roche paid was too high,'' said Witte.

"That is boosting the price of other (German) pharmaceutical shares, which are seen as undervalued.'' Boehringer Mannheim will benefit from the worldwide presence of Roche, Meyer said.