Company turns down $119B offer from Pfizer

Associated Press

LONDON

The board of AstraZeneca on Monday rejected the improved $119 billion takeover offer from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer, a decision that caused a sharp slide in the U.K. company’s share price as many investors think it effectively brings an end to the protracted and increasingly bitter takeover saga.

The board said that it “reiterates its confidence in AstraZeneca’s ability to deliver on its prospects as an independent, science-led business.”

Pfizer, the world’s second-biggest drugmaker by revenue, has been courting No. 8 AstraZeneca since January, arguing their businesses are complementary. On Sunday, it raised its stock-and-cash offer by 15 percent to $118.8 billion. That would be the richest acquisition ever among drugmakers and the third-biggest in any industry, according to figures from research firm Dealogic.

AstraZeneca didn’t take long to reject the new offer, its board arguing Pfizer is making “an opportunistic attempt to acquire a transformed AstraZeneca, without reflecting the value of its exciting pipeline” of experimental drugs.

Pfizer said it won’t raise its offer again or launch a hostile takeover bid over the heads of AstraZeneca’s board, so the prospect of a deal looks remote unless AstraZeneca shareholders urge a change of mind.