Monday, March 9, 2009

And Already, the Talk of Various Sub-Businesses -- to be "Busted-Up" -- Begins


Honestly, though I dissed as rumours-(Friday)-what-became-reality (this morning), in the larger picture, it is clearly not an "intact merger of equals". In the larger picture, it is shaping up pretty much as I predicted, at least three months ago -- a bust-up, or nothing. And so it is a "bust-up". A bust-up in the making, it would seem, according to Bloomberg, already -- by and Noon, today, to boot -- when the deal wasn't even four hours old:

Bloomberg has reported that the old Organon/Schering-Plough Merck/Sanofi-Aventis Animal Health businesses may -- or may not -- be among the businesses sold off (how's that for insightful reporting?), to pay down combined Merck/Schering-Plough debt. While an earlier version suggested that it might be the Organon/Schering-Plough ones, now it suggests the Merck/Sanofi ones, as "on the block". And so, perhaps this is the only truly-reliable portion:

. . . ."There are a variety of options the company is considering," said Amy Rose, a spokeswoman for Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck, in a telephone interview." Given that the deal was just announced today it is too early to speculate about conclusions that may be reached through the integration work". . . .

But mark my words -- "there will be blood. . . ." That is the less polite, but more accurate, face of the business term "integration work".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, as you predicted 3 months ago, and as pointed out in a comment it might coincide with news on asenapine. Which also appears to be the case.

Salmon