AstraZeneca Rejected Pfizer’s Increased Bid

AstraZeneca Plc (AZN) rejected an acquisition of 69.4 billion-pound ($117 billion) from Pfizer Inc. (PFE) . The bid fails to reflect the value of the U.K. drugmaker’s pipeline of experimental medicines. AstraZeneca shares plunged the most in almost 12 years.

The 55-pound-a-share proposal, which Pfizer said was final, would present risks for shareholders and harm science in the U.K., Sweden and the U.S., AstraZeneca said in a statement today. Executives told Pfizer over the weekend the price would have to be more than 58.85 pounds for AstraZeneca’s board to be able to recommend it to shareholders, the U.K. company said.

The rejection leaves the companies in a stalemate for now over a deal that would be the biggest acquisition of a U.K. company and create the world’s largest drugmaker by sales.

With a deal, Pfizer would transfer its headquarters to the U.K to gain a lower tax rate, add new cancer drugs to its pipeline and take advantage of cost cuts from company overlaps.

“We have tried repeatedly to engage in a constructive process with AstraZeneca,” Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said in a statement yesterday.

Pham & Associates is legal representative of Pfizer in the field of enforcement of intellectual property rights in Vietnam.

Pham & Associates (fr. Bloomberg)