15-11-23 Wall St. opens little changed Pfizer to buy Allergan
Channel: CLIP 4 NEWS
Date: 2015-11-23

Headline: 
Wall St. opens little changed - Pfizer to buy Allergan


Published (UTC): 
2015-11-23 15:45:47

Length: 
02:23
Pfizer to buy Allergan in $160 billion (USD) deal. U.S. stocks open flat.

SHOWS:

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 23, 2015) (NYSE - ACCESS ALL)

1. OPENING BELL AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE (NYSE)

2. NYSE OPENING BOARD

3. NYSE FLOOR

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 23, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) STEPHEN WOOD, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, RUSSELL INVESTMENTS

"If one looks at the tax structure in the United States versus other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, there's a spread. There's a differential. So inversions, a lot of these deals may be more a function of regulatory and tax policy then they maybe of anything else. So one would expect that as long as there are these regulatory arbitrage opportunities, the companies will explore them."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE) (PFIZER HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) (PART MUTE)

5. VARIOUS OF EXTERIORS OF PFIZER HEADQUARTERS

DUBLIN, IRELAND (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE)

6. PHOTOGRAPH OF PFIZER OFFICE IN DUBLIN

INTERNET (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE)

7. ALLERGAN WEBSITE

UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION (FILE) (PFIZER HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE)

8. VARIOUS OF LABORATORY

STORY: U.S. stocks opened little changed on Monday (November 23), coming off last week's strong gains, as gains in consumer staples offset losses in energy stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.14 points, or 0.01 percent, to 17,825.95. The S&P 500 gained 0.2 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,089.37 and the Nasdaq Composite index added 1.11 points, or 0.02 percent, to 5,106.03.

Also, Pfizer Inc on Monday said it would buy Botox maker Allergan Plc in a record-breaking deal worth $160 billion (USD), designed to cut the company's U.S. tax bill by moving its headquarters to Ireland.

The merger, which will create the world's largest drugmaker, will delay the Lipitor and Viagra maker's decision on whether to split by two years to late 2018, Pfizer said.

Investors had been hoping Pfizer would sell off its low-margin generics by 2017 while holding on to its faster-growing branded prescription drugs, a move that will be delayed by the time required to integrate Allergan.

While the deal is structured as Allergan buying Pfizer, Pfizer would retain control of the company.

The tax aspect of the deal has been seen as critical. The U.S. corporate tax rate of 35 percent is among the world's highest, while Ireland's is just 12.5 percent.

"If one looks at the tax structure in the United States versus other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, there's a spread. There's a differential. So inversions, a lot of these deals may be more a function of regulatory and tax policy then they maybe of anything else. So one would expect that as long as there are these regulatory arbitrage opportunities, the companies will explore them," said Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments.

Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Ian Read will hold that position at the combined entity, while Allergan CEO Brent Saunders will be president and chief operating officer.

The deal values Allergan's shares at $363.63 each, about 16 percent more than their closing price of $312.46 on Friday.

Allergan shareholders would receive 11.3 shares in the combined company for each of their shares.


Join to my Network:
https://www.freedom.tm/Libre?rdr=1&via=javierduende117&n_id=283983&ref=javierduende117

DO NOT! I violate the Copyright of the content of my music and videos all material is taken from my network