Puts on Pfizer
From this morning:
Moody's Monday placed Pfizer Inc.'s Aa1 long-term ratings under review for possible downgrade following the drug giant's announcement that it will buy Wyeth in a deal valued at $68 billion. "Pfizer's key credit ratios would initially erode from 'Aaa' ranges to 'Baa' ranges, and the combined Pfizer-Wyeth entity would still have relatively weak scores in patent exposures and late-stage pipeline quality," said Michael Levesque, Moody's senior vice president.
afternoon:
Pfizer Inc., the world's top drugmaker, said it will buy rival Wyeth for $68 billion in the biggest pharmaceutical merger in eight years. At the same time they reported a 90% plunge in fourth-quarter profit, stemming mostly from a large legal settlement, a 15% combined reduction in its workforce (19,000), and cut its dividend payment in half in order to help pay for the Wyeth acquisition.
"Investors will be pleased to know that this deal definitively addresses the revenue lost from Lipitor's loss of exclusivity," Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler said on a conference call with analysts Monday morning. Lipitor will be going off patent protection next year.
