Pfizer Said to Be Planning to Make Sweetened Bid for AstraZeneca
Pfizer May Walk Away From Deal if Latest Bid Rejected
Pfizer Inc. PFE +0.21% was planning to make a sweetened takeover offer for AstraZeneca AZN.LN +2.05% PLC on Sunday, according to people familiar with the matter, in a last-ditch effort to bring the U.K. drug giant to the negotiating table.
Pfizer, which has already been rebuffed by AstraZeneca more than once, may walk away from its proposed deal if the latest advance is turned away, the people said.
Details of a new offer, and where any talks between the two companies currently stand, couldn't be discerned.
Pfizer first approached AstraZeneca late last year about a trans-Atlantic tie-up between the companies that would rank as one of the healthcare industry's biggest ever. The U.S. pharmaceutical company's most recent offer, worth about $106 billion and consisting mainly of its own stock, was made at the beginning of this month and quickly rejected by AstraZeneca's board.