Pfizer does not make counter offer

Pfizer does not intend to make counter offer after AstraZeneca rejected the £69bn takeover bid. The US company was looking to buy out UK based AstraZeneca for a £55 per share price, according to the BBC.

Through UK company takeover laws Pfizer had until Monday evening to make a counter proposal to AstraZeneca. Now Pfizer will have to wait six months before another proposal could be potentially made if the board chooses to do so.

Ian Read, chairman and ceo of Pfizer, in a press release said: “We continue to believe that our final proposal was compelling and represented full value for AstraZeneca based on the information that was available to us. As we said from the start, the pursuit of this transaction was a potential enhancement to our existing strategy.”

“We will continue our focus on the execution of our plans, bringing forth new treatments to meet patients’ needs and remaining responsible stewards of our shareholders’ capital.”

The potential takeover caused some controversy and provoked the attention of politicians about what could have been the largest UK company takeover by a foreign company.

Tony Burke, Unite assistant general secretary, said: “Pfizer failed to convince hardly anyone that their bid was good for science and would secure skilled jobs and manufacturing in the UK."

Ian Read, including other members of the board of directors of both AstraZeneca and Pfizer, spent two days being questioned by the commons business select committee and the science committee two weeks ago.

The Unite union also stated: "We expect that there will be renewed pressure on shareholders over the coming months with the likelihood that Pfizer could be back in its attempts to take over AstraZeneca.”

"The government needs to use this time to intervene and put a public interest test in place for proposed takeovers of this size, just as other governments do, such as the French which has strengthened its powers to act to protect strategic industries."