Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), the U.S. drug maker, is making sincere attempts for a tie-up with AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN). The U.S. major is working on its next move to acquire the British counterpart after having two bids rejected. They first approached them in January 2014, but the deal didn’t materialize as it was turned down by AstraZeneca after some high level discussions. On 26 April, another attempt was made by Pfizer for a tie-up.
The drug maker went up to them with the intentions of finalizing the tie-up this time. The recent market developments had encouraged Pfizer to try once again for convincing the AstraZeneca, but unfortunately, their proposal was turned down once again, saying “absent a specific and attractive proposal, it was not appropriate to engage in discussions with Pfizer.”
Previous offer was also turned down
Pfizer’s January proposal was a cash/share offer, where they offered $76.61 or 46.61 pounds per AstraZeneca plc (ADR)(NYSE:AZN) share. Also, they offered a premium of 30% on company’s closing price of £35.86 on 3rd of January.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), is considering a deal with AstraZeneca shareholders. As per the deal, the shareholders will get a “significant premium” that will be paid in shares and cash. This deal would result into a new U.K. incorporated company under which the two companies will be combined into one. They will also be able to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This tie-up would give birth to a pharmaceutical giant. Astra Zeneca’s market capitalization exceeds $85 billion as on date and the deal is valued at more than $100 billion.
Benefits of this tie-up
The pairing is expected to provide huge benefits in the domain of medicines. Both could jointly work on producing medicines/drugs that can treat diseases of severe nature such as rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, etc.
Besides those mentioned above, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is, also, targeting cancer therapies. AstraZeneca plc (ADR)(NYSE:AZN) has been offering some promising drugs that are aimed at attacking cancer with the use of an immune system of the body. Such immunotherapies in the Health Care industry will mark the beginning of lucrative cancer treatments.
In this financial year, a lot of merger and acquisition activity is going on in the health care industry, and this one, if happens, is going to be a huge one.
Recently, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. revealed its intention of buying rival Allergan Inc. for nearly $46 billion, also, Novartis AG earned more than $20 billion in the sell and exchange deal with GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Eli Lilly & Co.
