Swedish ministers express concern on effects Pfizer's possible acquisition of AstraZeneca may bring to Sweden
Swedish government ministers, Anders Borg, Annie Loof and Jan Bjorklund, have expressed their concerns regarding American Pfizer’s possible acquisition of the UK pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, according to Dagens Industri.
The Swedish business daily reported that the Swedish ministers of finance, commerce and education, respectively, on Friday talked at a press conference about the consequences a deal with Pfizer could bring. They mentioned a risk of reduced Swedish medical research, the detrimental effects a deal may have on Sweden’s position as a research country, significant redundancies and decreased tax revenues.
Borg said that short-term tax efficiency is not necessarily a good reason for business deals, and pointed out that when a deal is driven for tax reasons, costs are usually cut significantly and research and future opportunities may be lost.
Meanwhile, Borg told the paper that he believes the US Senate and House of Representatives are currently looking at the possibility of introducing retroactive laws to stop these types of tax-driven deals but he had no further details regarding the matter. He added that he hopes Pfizer will consider whether a possible AstraZeneca deal is reasonable.
The item noted that AstraZeneca has 5,900 employees in Sweden compared to 6,700 in the UK. The paper wrote that the UK-based company’s Swedish business corresponds to 75% of Sweden’s pharma export and generates annual tax revenues of around SEK 4.4bn (EUR 489m).
The Swedish ministers also raised their concerns in an article in the Wall Street Journal late last week. They pointed to the fact that Pfizer has gained 124,000 employees via acquisitions since 1999 but that the American company’s net increase in employees since the same year is 25,000 which indicates that almost 100,000 employees have been made redundant. They also wrote that Swedish Phamacia had 4,000 employees when it was acquired by Pfizer in 2003 and the staff now comes to 500.
The ministers stated that Sweden has previously been skeptical towards EU laws which would investigate the public interest aspect of business deals but that past deals as well as Pfizer’s possible plans for AstraZeneca are weakening this reluctance.
The ministers finally urged AstraZeneca’s owners to consider rejecting Pfizer if no further information about the consequences of a deal is given.
Meanwhile, the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet reported that Sweden was never mentioned by Pfizer’s CEO, Ian Read, when he answered questions by the UK parliament last week, which has caused Swedish political concern.
Source Dagens Industri, Wall Street Journal, Svenska Dagbladet