The Edge Predicts Tie-up Between US Makers of Botox and Viagra Creating Sector’s Largest Player, Worth More Than $300bn
Oct 30, 2015
By Julia Kollewe, UK Senior Reporter, The Guardian: The mega-merger would be by far the biggest in a flurry of deals in the industry this year. Allergan has a market value of $113bn (£81bn); Pfizer is worth $219bn. Together they would overtake Johnson & Johnson, worth $278bn, as the world’s largest healthcare company.
Last autumn, a US crackdown on tax avoidance deals scuppered AbbVie’s agreed takeover of Shire, which is based in Dublin, like Allergan. It is unclear whether the rule changes would affect the potential tax advantages from a Pfizer-Allergan deal. Analysts said one of the main hurdles in the way of a Pfizer-Allergan deal was price.
Jonathan Morgan, head of research at The Edge Consulting Group, said: “Looking at valuations, Allergan trades at a higher multiple versus GSK – or for that matter AstraZeneca – and we believe the pricing of the deal may be something of an obstacle.
“If the deal does go through a further restructuring at Pfizer would be a possibility, as the company at some point would like to separate its patent-protected drugs portfolio from its off-patented drugs.”