UPDATE 2-Actelion to appeal jury decision in Asahi case

* Jury awarded Asahi up to $547 mln in compensatory damages

* Also awarded punitive damages against Actelion individuals

* Punitive damages $30 million

* Actelion under fire from largest shareholder, AGM on May 5

* Shares soar 6 percent, outperform sector

(Adds details, background, shares, analyst comment)

By Katie Reid

ZURICH, May 4 (Reuters) - Actelion will appeal the final jury verdict in a licensing agreement dispute with Japanese group Asahi Kasei (3407.T), the Swiss biotech group said on Wednesday, helping to lift its shares 6 percent.

Actelion had already said it might appeal against the decision after the jury's decision last week to award Asahi up to $547 million in compensatory damages.

The jury in the Superior Court of the State of California has now also awarded punitive damages of $30 million against Actelion boss Jean-Paul Clozel, Chief Scientific Officer Martine Clozel, as well as Simon Buckingham, a member of Actelion's senior management.

But its stock jumped as investors said Actelion had a reasonable chance of success with its appeal, while markets were also relieved that the punitive damages of $30 million were lower than expected.

"The awarded punitive damages of $30 million are much lower than what could have been feared," Vontobel analyst Andrew Weiss said.

"As expected Actelion will appeal the decision. We reckon Actelion has fair chances of reducing the sum awarded to Asahi in a bench trial with judges. We have factored into our estimates a settlement of 250 million Swiss francs ($289.8 million)," he said.

At 0729 GMT, the stock was trading 5.9 percent higher, easily outperforming a 0.1 percent weaker European healthcare index .SXDP, going someway to recover the losses after the jury decision to award Asahi up to $547 million last week.

The jury decision comes at a difficult time for Actelion, which is under fire from largest shareholder Elliott Advisors, which has criticised the group's strategy and urged it to consider putting itself up for sale after a string of product setbacks.

The battle between Actelion and Elliott will come to a head at Actelion's AGM in Basel on Thursday morning. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Factbox on the Actelion-Asahi case [ID:nLDE74119I] Preview on shareholder meeting [ID:nLDE73S0I3] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

The amount awarded to Asahi consists of damages of $358.95 million for alleged lost profits and $187.4 million in alleged development costs, a spokesman for Actelion said.

The company has asked a judge to compensate Asahi either for lost profits or for development costs, but not both, the spokesman said, so the amount Actelion ends up paying could be significantly lower.

It has also asked that Actelion's payment of $78.4 million from an earlier arbitration case be deducted from the amount the judge chooses.

"Actelion is disappointed with the jury decision. The company believes that the ruling is neither supported by the facts nor is it correct as a matter of law. The company will file appropriate further post-trial motions and will appeal the entire judgement," the group said in a statement.

Actelion will not have to make any payments whilst the appeal is pending. (Editing by Dan Lalor and Louise Heavens) ($1=.8627 Swiss Franc)