December 22, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
The chief executive of British drug giant AstraZeneca Plc has that is unlikely to see a second, higher bid for the company from its erstwhile suitor Pfizer , Pascal Soriot told Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri.
“I can’t say it will never happen, but the probability that Pfizer returns is much less,” Chief Executive Officer Soriot said in the report.
Among the reasons are Pfizer’s recently announced deal with with Merck KGaA last month, that will make AstraZeneca’s pipeline redundant, and a rising share price for AstraZeneca that could make the company too expensive.
The “cooling off” period required by U.K. regulators after any failed takeover has now expired, but Soriot said he thinks it is unlikely the company will take fresh approach after its original $118 billion offer was flatly refused nearly a year ago.
“I consider it unlikely that Pfizer will return with a bid,” AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot told the newspaper.
AstraZeneca (and Soriot) have been feeling pretty smug after its share price has climbed as high as the original offer larger rival Pfizer Inc. had said it would pay for the company in a buyout last May.
Soriot told reporters on a conference call Nov. 6 that AstraZeneca’s closing price of $73.54 (46.20 pounds) on that day was roughly the amount Pfizer offered the company’s board when they first discussed a merger last January. At the time, the price was considered a premium and many analysts thought AstraZeneca was hasty in walking away.
“Above all our share price has risen, so we have become more expensive. Today’s share price is at a level with the first offer Pfizer made early this year,” Soriot told the paper Saturday.
Now, a year later, after one of the most bullish market climates in biotech history, AstraZeneca has shown it can create value without exiting to potential suitors, said Soriot.
“The original price was 46 pounds and it was meant to be a premium,” Soriot said in November. “Hopefully that shows the value we can make implementing our independent strategy.”
AstraZeneca ultimately rejected Pfizer’s final bid of 55 pounds per share because it felt its experimental drug company made it a valuable standalone entity. Pfizer had planned to move its headquarters to Ireland as part of the deal, hoping to capitalize on lucrative tax loopholes that have since been closed.
