Pfizer in Macclesfield pledge as AZ offer increases
US drug company Pfizer has ramped up its offer price for AstraZeneca and set out its commitment to the UK in an open letter to David Cameron.
It has upped its offer from £46.6 a share to £50 which would give AstraZeneca a market value of £63bn.
The shares have risen in value from around £40 at the start of the week to £48 on the back of the offer.
In a letter to the prime minister Pfizer said it would establish the combined company’s corporate and tax residence in the UK, and retain “substantial commercial manufacturing facilities in Macclesfield”.
Last year AstraZeneca said it would spend £120m upgrading the factory which has 300 staff making the cancer drug Zoladex.
But AstraZenceca is set to move the bulk of its R&D operations from Alderley Park, Cheshire, where 3,000 people work, to a new facility in Cambridgeshire. Alderley Park was originally the headquarters of ICI’s pharmaceutical division. It was recently acquired by Manchester Science Parks – which is 50% owned by property company Bruntwood.
Pfizer chairman Ian Read said: “We have seen significant positive market reaction to the announcement we made on April 28, including from the shareholders of both our companies. The consistent message we have heard reinforces our belief that there is a highly compelling strategic, business and financial rationale for combining our businesses, with significant benefits for shareholders and stakeholders of both companies.
“We believe our proposal is responsive to the views of AstraZeneca shareholders and provides a sound basis upon which to arrive at recommendable terms for the combination of our two companies.”
