Pfizer Snaps Up Wyeth for $68B

Merger would be largest pharma deal since GlaxoWellcome-SmithKline 2000 merger
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2009 6:11 AM CST
Pfizer Snaps Up Wyeth for $68B
A sign at Pfizer headquarters is shown Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009 in New York. It was announced Monday Jan. 26, 2009 that Pfizer Inc. reached an agreement to acquire Wyeth in deal valued at $68 billion.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The world’s largest drugmaker, Pfizer, is poised to become even more gargantuan after it agreed early this morning to buy rival Wyeth for $68 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal. In the first major merger to hit Wall Street in months, Pfizer will borrow $22.5 billion from four banks that received bailout money—Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America, reports the New York Times.

The deal would be the largest pharmaceutical merger since the $76 billion consolidation of GlaxoWellcome and SmithKline in 2000. Wyeth shareholders will get $50.19 per share: $33 in cash and just less than one share of Pfizer stock. After the deal, it’s anticipated Wyeth’s management team will be replaced, including CEO Bernard Poussot.
(More merger stories.)

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