Hints and tips:
...Pfizer executives say that while based in the UK, AstraZeneca is a truly international company with origins not only in Britain’s ICI chemicals group but also Astra of Sweden....
...(Bloomberg) “Pfizer Inc, the Indian unit of U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc, is to take over local affiliate Wyeth Ltd, they said on Saturday after their boards approved the deal....
...AstraZeneca no longer pays for physicians to attend international medical conferences....
...Two foreign companies, Nestlé’s Wyeth Nutrition unit and Meiji Dairies of Japan, were also included in the NDRC’s probe but were not penalised....
...Croda International fell 2.6 per cent to £22.61 and Yule Catto lost 4.7 per cent to 153p....
...US authorities alleged that Mr Martoma recommended trading shares in Elan and Wyeth to the “hedge fund owner”, who people familiar with the matter confirm was Mr Cohen....
...There are caveats: Lipitor still makes up 9 per cent of Pfizer’s revenues, and that will keep falling as international patents expire and US sales approach zero....
...Pfizer’s $68bn deal to buy Wyeth had a $4.5bn reverse break fee attached....
...Meanwhile, as Heinz considers ways to develop its baby food business and increase its international presence the company said it would pull back on frozen foods in the US....
...Ifpma, the international body, has only ever considered – and then rejected – four complaints against companies....
...Profits were also buoyed by adding products from its acquisition of Wyeth, helping compensate for declining sales of its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor....
...Jeffrey Holford, senior analyst with Jefferies International in London, agrees, pointing out that ahead of Merck’s acquisition of Serono of Switzerland in 2007, its drug margins were modest....
...While bank lending is still expensive, the bond markets are open and companies with investment-grade ratings such as Pfizer, which this year bought Wyeth for $68bn , chose to tap investors directly....
...Last year brought an extraordinary range of mega-mergers, with Pfizer paying $68bn (£45bn, €50bn) for Wyeth, Merck $41bn for Schering-Plough, and Roche spending $47bn to buy out the minority shareholders...
...The teleconference, with more than 3,500 staff, symbolised the shift of the traditionally highly centralised Manhattan-based group towards a more diverse and international operation as it seeks to adapt...
...“Manufacturing rationalisation often forces firms to say ‘well there’s one small product here that’s in the way of a big international cost-saving programme, let’s divest it’.”...
...healthcare has been one of the few industries to record a year-on-year increase in M&A volumes during the first nine months of 2009, fuelled by large-scale acquisitions including Pfizer’s $68bn takeover of Wyeth...
...In April it approved the $1.6bn acqusition by Japan’s Mitsubishi Rayon of Lucite International of the UK....
...Three large pharma deals valued at $121bn were agreed, including Pfizer’s takeover of Wyeth and Schering-Plough’s acquisition of Merck, as companies tried to address the issue of losing an estimated $100bn...
...Non-financial companies, whose debt issuance has already reached an annual record, have tapped the bond market to fund M&A deals, such as the Pfizer-Wyeth tie-up this year....
...Pfizer’s $68bn takeover of Wyeth kicked off the consolidation in January, spurring Roche to launch a $45.7bn hostile bid for Genentech and Merck to announce a $41.1bn deal for rival Schering-Plough....
...This could also include in our view Wyeth’s consumer healthcare business or Schering Plough’s consumer health care business....
...Wyeth, the pharmaceutical company, also made better profits than expected, as cost cuts proved effective. Shares in the company, which has agreed to be bought by Pfizer, gained 0.8 per cent to $42.60....
...That helps explain why in the past few weeks Pfizer has acquired Wyeth and Merck has taken over Schering-Plough....
...Healthcare stocks were led higher by Pfizer, which gained 5.5 per cent to $14.93, after Credit Suisse said the company may boost its dividend in the future following its purchase of rival Wyeth....
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