PRESS: AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers-Squibb eye USD400 billion merger
AstraZeneca PLC and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co are considering merging in a deal worth USD400 billion, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
The Cambridge, England-based drug maker and its Lawrenceville, New Jersey-based peer recently held talks about a potential combination of their businesses, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the FT.
In terms of a timeframe for the deal, the sources indicated that it could materialise in the near future, though there is no certainty that it will proceed.
If it does go through, it would create the world's fourth largest pharmaceutical firm.
AstraZeneca shares closed 0.7% lower at 12,632.00 pence on Friday in London, giving the company a market capitalisation of £264.91 billion. Bristol Myers-Squibb closed 0.7% higher at USD65.31 in New York, for a market cap of USD133.37 billion.
In June, AstraZeneca listed directly in New York, stoking market fears around a potential shift in focus to the US, with one concern for UK investors being that AstraZeneca may be looking to redomicile to the US.
Any deal would likely involve a combination of cash and shares, the FT noted. It would follow a takeover bid by another Pfizer Inc, which AstraZeneca spurned back in 2014.
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