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Glaxo bids $15B for Pfizer unit
Report: 2 more offers for Morris Plains operations
BY SHANNON PETTYPIECE AND JULIA WERDIGIER
BLOOMBERG NEWS
GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Aquafresh toothpaste, offered more than $15 billion for Pfizer's Morris Plains-based consumer unit, one of at least three bids received by the company, people familiar with the negotiations said.
New Brunswick-based Johnson & Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser, a British company with offices in Parsippany, also are willing to pay more than $14 billion, the New York Times said Wednesday.
New York-based Pfizer plans to begin final talks by June 23 with the top bidders, said the people, who declined to be identified before a deal is announced.
Glaxo chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier would add $3.9 billion in sales from brands, such as Listerine mouthwash and Rolaids tablets.
London-based Glaxo, the world's second-largest drugmaker after Pfizer, missed chances to buy nonprescription drug units of Roche Holding and Boots Group.
"I wouldn't be surprised here to see Pfizer accept one of those bids," said Jeffrey Malcom, who manages about 500,000 Pfizer shares at Horan Capital Management in Towson, Md.
"They said they wanted to get that asset out the door at $10 billion after tax, and at the $14 to $15 billion range it is certainly a generous price, and it looks like they may accept."
Pfizer will decide whether to sell the unit or spin it off to shareholders in the third quarter, CEO Henry McKinnell told CNBC in an interview Wednesday. Pfizer will spend the proceeds on its more profitable drug business.
''Over the next weeks and months we will be working with the highest bidders to try to decide by the end of the third quarter," McKinnell said.
While Pfizer has gotten ''numerous very strong bids," he said, spinning off the unit is still ''a very strong option."
The company concluded a second round of bidding Tuesday and will assess the offers and advise suitors whether it wants to move into final negotiations, two people familiar with the deal process said.
A spin-off is being given equal weight to a potential sale, one person familiar with the talks said. Pfizer told analysts at an April 19 meeting that any bidder would have to pay capital gains tax on the disposal. The company said it will make its final decision about the unit in the third quarter.
Glaxo bids $15B for Pfizer unit
Report: 2 more offers for Morris Plains operations
BY SHANNON PETTYPIECE AND JULIA WERDIGIER
BLOOMBERG NEWS
GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Aquafresh toothpaste, offered more than $15 billion for Pfizer's Morris Plains-based consumer unit, one of at least three bids received by the company, people familiar with the negotiations said.
New Brunswick-based Johnson & Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser, a British company with offices in Parsippany, also are willing to pay more than $14 billion, the New York Times said Wednesday.
New York-based Pfizer plans to begin final talks by June 23 with the top bidders, said the people, who declined to be identified before a deal is announced.
Glaxo chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier would add $3.9 billion in sales from brands, such as Listerine mouthwash and Rolaids tablets.
London-based Glaxo, the world's second-largest drugmaker after Pfizer, missed chances to buy nonprescription drug units of Roche Holding and Boots Group.
"I wouldn't be surprised here to see Pfizer accept one of those bids," said Jeffrey Malcom, who manages about 500,000 Pfizer shares at Horan Capital Management in Towson, Md.
"They said they wanted to get that asset out the door at $10 billion after tax, and at the $14 to $15 billion range it is certainly a generous price, and it looks like they may accept."
Pfizer will decide whether to sell the unit or spin it off to shareholders in the third quarter, CEO Henry McKinnell told CNBC in an interview Wednesday. Pfizer will spend the proceeds on its more profitable drug business.
''Over the next weeks and months we will be working with the highest bidders to try to decide by the end of the third quarter," McKinnell said.
While Pfizer has gotten ''numerous very strong bids," he said, spinning off the unit is still ''a very strong option."
The company concluded a second round of bidding Tuesday and will assess the offers and advise suitors whether it wants to move into final negotiations, two people familiar with the deal process said.
A spin-off is being given equal weight to a potential sale, one person familiar with the talks said. Pfizer told analysts at an April 19 meeting that any bidder would have to pay capital gains tax on the disposal. The company said it will make its final decision about the unit in the third quarter.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 9:18 AM
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