NEW YORK – Pfizer Inc. is in talks to acquire rival drug maker Wyeth in a deal that could be valued at more than $60 billion, said people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
A combination of these two U.S. pharmaceutical giants would redraw the boundaries of the global drug industry, which has suffered from flagging product development and high fixed costs. It would also represent a high-stakes gambit for Pfizer, which has been stung in the past by expensive acquisitions.
The two sides have been in discussions for months and a deal isn’t imminent, the people said. Given recent market volatility and overall economic uncertainty, the talks are especially fragile and could collapse, the people warned.
Pfizer spokesman Raymond F. Kerins Jr. said the company doesn’t comment on “market rumors and speculation.” A Wyeth spokesman said, “We don’t comment on marketplace rumor.”
Joining New York-based Pfizer and Madison, N.J.-based Wyeth would create a behemoth with combined revenue of about $75 billion and a line of blockbuster drugs including Pfizer’s cholesterol drug Lipitor and Wyeth’s pediatric vaccine Prevnar.
Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker by revenue, would likely use a combination of cash and stock for the acquisition. Details on price haven’t been worked out, but Wyeth has a market capitalization of about $52 billion and premiums in the sector have averaged just over 20 percent. That would put the value of the deal at well over $60 billion.
If completed, a deal could create billions in cost savings through the combination of back-office operations, research and development, sales and manufacturing.
Like other major pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and Wyeth face the looming expiration of patents on their most lucrative products as well as intense competition from makers of generic drugs. In addition, a tougher regulatory environment in the U.S. and overseas has made it more difficult to win approval for new treatments, forcing companies to narrow their research focus.
Those realities have prompted calls for industry consolidation from the investment community. For years, companies have withstood pressure to merge, hoping that new discoveries would allow them to maintain independence. But with drugs generating an estimated $30 billion in sales losing patent protection over the next several years, many analysts have been saying industry consolidation is inevitable.
Unlike other sectors of the economy, the pharmaceutical industry has historically been buffered from downturns because patients typically don’t stop seeking treatment for major ailments. While there are growing signs that this recession has triggered a decline in prescription-drug consumption among cash-strapped consumers, major companies nonetheless have streams of cash they can use for acquisitions.
Pfizer alone had more than $27 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet at the end of 2008, Goldman Sachs estimated in a recent note to investors. Analysts believe that most of that money is outside the U.S. and Pfizer would suffer a tax hit if the company repatriated the funds. Many in the industry have been waiting to see what Pfizer does before pursuing deals of their own.
Pfizer posted revenue of $48.4 billion and a profit of $8.1 billion in 2007, the most recent year for which data are available. Wyeth’s revenue totaled $22.4 billion and its profit $4.6 billion in 2007.
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