Pfizer's unsuccessful takeover of AstraZeneca Case Study

Pfizer's unsuccessful takeover of AstraZeneca - Case Study Example In this regard, it is necessary to have a brief knowledge about AstraZeneca. The company is a United Kingdom (UK) based pharmaceutical company headquartered in London. AstraZeneca is also recognised among top companies in the global pharmaceutical industry. Like Pfizer, this company also have significant experience in acquisition and mergers as it has acquired and collaborated with a number of companies in recent years. The case in this paper focuses on the failed merger between Pfizer and AstraZeneca which took place in May, 2014. It was gathered from the Guardian (2014a) that the chairman of Pfizer initially approached chairman of AstraZeneca regarding merger in November 2013 while the detailed discussion took place in January, 2014. The exploratory meeting between both the companies took place in New York on January 5, 2014. It was gathered that Pfizer offered a settlement payment of  £58 billion or  £46.61 per share in its preliminary proposal to AstraZeneca. The offer also included establishment of a new holding company listed and headquartered in the US. However, AstraZeneca’s board turned down the offer concluding that Pfizer has heavily undervalued the company and its prospects. The company also questioned transaction structure and offered inversion structure of Pfizer and ultimately the proposal ended by the mid of January 2014 (International Business Times, 2014; The Telegraph, 2014; The Guardian, 2014a; 2014b). On 26 April 2014, Pfizer contacted chairman of AstraZeneca for a new discussion regarding collaboration of both the companies but AstraZeneca declined this offer. Consequently, Pfizer publicised its interest in merger with AstraZeneca on 28 April 2014. The US pharmaceutical giant revealed that they are planning to offer AstraZeneca cash and share at an attractive premium. They further added that they would move company domicile