Boston, MA 09/04/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Even though the much-talked about merger deal between Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN) died down, but according to the U.K. acquisition rules, the former still has chances of bringing the deal on the table.
Even though the deal cancellation was a relief for British Pharma, but as per the Office for National Statistics in U.K., the number of such mergers or acquisitions in U.K. has taken a new low in 2Q2014, which means that a lot more companies perhaps retracted.
Pfizer Still has a Chance
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) pulled away its hand from the $116 billion proposed deal with Astra in May 2014, but the rules say that there can still be chances for the company to infuse life into this deal. What holds, however, is the U.S. lawmakers’ intervention in context with tax inversion. According to Bloomberg, Pfizer might face some hard obstacles in future, which means that it will be left with no other option except some acquisition and the brightest and most-speculated one at this time is that with Astra.
The attempt of company to acquire Astra was among those mergers which attracted Washington into this tax inversion debate, where economic risks within U.S. came into limelight.
U.K. M & A at Record Low
Official figures reveal that the M&A’s dropped down to 73 in a time span of three months, record low since 1987. Out of this figure, 37 were within the geographical boundaries of the country, while only 17 of the overseas companies were acquired by U.K. ventures. Apart from this, 19 involved foreign acquisitions of U.K. ventures.
Transactions Value Dropping
At the same time, the value of transactions on an average is also seeing a downward trend. From £1.6bn in Q1 2014 to £1.2bn in Q2 2014, the country-wide transactions are also witnessing a drop down.
