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AstraZeneca’s Johansson hits at Pfizer ‘big is better’ bid
By Andrew Ward, David Oakley and Elizabeth Rigby
©Bloomberg
AstraZeneca warned that “bigger is not always better” as it launched its defence against Pfizer’s £60bn approach, but some of the UK pharmaceutical company’s biggest shareholders signalled they would be open to a takeover at the right price.
Leif Johansson, AstraZeneca chairman, on Wednesday highlighted the mixed record of big mergers in the pharmaceuticals industry as he urged investors to keep faith with the company’s drive to revive growth by developing new drugs on its own.
However, several big shareholders said they would support a deal if Pfizer raised its offer, and that they would not be influenced by political concerns over what would be the biggest foreign takeover in UK history.
Meanwhile, Downing Street has appointed two of the most powerful officials in Whitehall – Sir Jeremy Heywood, cabinet secretary, and John Kingman, a top Treasury mandarin – to lead government talks with Pfizer over its plans for one of Britain’s biggest and most strategically important companies.
AstraZeneca has so far refused to enter negotiations with Pfizer over an informal £46.61-per-share offer that it said “significantly undervalued” the company. Mr Johansson told the Financial Times that he saw no reason to change that stance in the absence of a higher bid.
Rejecting Pfizer’s argument that the UK company would benefit from bigger scale, he said: “Big is not necessarily best in pharma.
“It is highly questionable whether big consolidations have led to greater success in getting new medicines to market,” he added. “AstraZeneca is big enough to create good value for shareholders and other stakeholders by itself.”
Ian Read, Pfizer chairman and chief executive, on Wednesday made his case to large AstraZeneca shareholders during a second day of meetings in London aimed at winning support from the City and the UK government.
One top 20 investor said: “We are impressed that Pfizer has made an effort to come and see us. That shows how serious they are. They have listened to us and been impressive.”
A top 10 shareholder said the proposed deal could be “a great fit”.
“There are huge synergies here... [but] we would like a better offer than what Pfizer has so far offered,” the investor added.
Other shareholders said the City would not be influenced by concerns over what a deal would mean for jobs and investment in UK life sciences. AstraZeneca employs about 7,000 people in the country and accounts for more than 2 per cent of exported goods.
A top 10 investor said: “We are not particularly protectionist, like the French, and are much more open. Commercial logic and price determines whether we back a deal or not.