Friday, March 24, 2006

Bayer - Schering's "white knight"


German drugs firm Schering is backing a 16.3bn-euro ($19.5bn; £11.2bn) bid from pharmaceutical giant Bayer, having snubbed a rival approach from German Merck.

Schering has recommended the cash offer of 86 euros a share to shareholders.

Bayer emerged as a "white knight" bidder for Schering after it rejected a hostile 14.6bn-euro bid from Merck.

"Bayer Healthcare and Schering (SHR) have a combined workforce of around 60,000 people," Bayer Chief Executive Werner Wenning said in a telephone press conference.

"During the restructuring of the combined businesses, there will be job cuts of around 6,000 employees in the upcoming years," he added.

Bayer described the proposed tie-up as "the best way of reasserting the importance of Germany as a pharmaceutical industry base".

Read more here.

Insiders' view: How long will it be before AZ look to GSK as their "white knight" as being the best way of reasserting the importance of the UK as a pharmaceutical industry base? Probably not too long.

No comments: