Sunday, September 27, 2009

So Abbott Nearly Got the Old Merck/Merial Animal Health Assets? Wild.


Jeanne Whalen, over at The Wall Street Journal is reporting this Sunday morning that Abbott was deep in the running, to acquire Animal Health businesses from Merck, thus:

. . . .Abbott of late has been in a more acquisitive mode, making a strong run this summer at purchasing a veterinary medicine business from Merck & Co. French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA eventually bought the asset for $4 billion. . . .

I'd look for Abbott to resurface, then, when the Intervet assets (at least those that would pose a competitive overlap problem for New Merck, vis-a-vis the Sanofi-Aventis "New" Merial businesses) are toted up for sale. That will have to happen pretty quickly, once the reverse merger closes, as Sanofi/Merial will likely exercise its call option to acquire all of Intervet away from "New" Merck -- then divest one or more of the competing lines, either from Merial, or from Intervet.

Keep an eye on that Miles White. He's crafty.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So someone FINALLY spilled the beans. Yes, Abbot was hot and heavy, and were the preferred option to sanofi/Merial. NOT BAYER, which is what everybody thought.