The AP "Gets It Right" -- No "Simple Stenography" -- Here, Today. . . .

I am mildly-encouraged. About 15 minutes ago, the AP added to its covereage of the amended SEC merger filings. Did the AP writers see my post, of about two hours ago, below? I dunno. I am happy with the balance, just the same:

. . . .While Merck, the larger of the two companies, is acquiring Schering-Plough, the deal is structured as a reverse merger. Schering-Plough will technically be the remaining company, but it will keep the better-known Merck name.

That's being done in an effort to retain roughly $2.1 billion in annual revenue that Schering-Plough now gets from a partnership with Johnson & Johnson on global sales of the blockbuster arthritis drug Remicade, and a successor drug called Simponi recently approved.

Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J., is arguing the merger constitutes a change in control, which would permit its biotech division, Centocor, to terminate their distribution agreement and retain all revenue from the drugs. Centocor has started an arbitration proceeding to resolve the dispute.

According to the SEC filings, Schering-Plough is "vigorously contesting" Centocor's attempt to end the distribution deal, and the combined company will continue to do so. Merck officials have said that the arbitration process, which could take nine to 12 months, will not hold up the merger. It is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

"Under the plain reading of (the change-in control) provision, Merck and Schering-Plough believe that completion of the merger will not entitle Centocor to terminate the distribution agreement," the proxies state. "Due to the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the arbitration, the parties may choose to settle the dispute under mutually agreeable terms," which could reduce future revenue to the combined company.

The merger is expected to eliminate about 16,000 jobs at the two companies and bring an estimated annual cost savings of $3.5 billion after 2011. That is not dependent on retaining rights to revenue from Remicade and Simponi, but "the loss of these rights would reduce the amount of sales expected to be generated by the combined company," the proxies state.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen potential class action suits have been filed against the two companies and their boards of directors, accusing them of breaching their fiduciary duty to stockholders. . . .

Fabulous. That's the sort of perspective that has been far-too-long missing from financial reporting of "press events" held by multinational pharmaceutical public-companies.