Drugmaker Pfizer may have to give up its attempt to takeover its competitor AstraZeneca, which said on Monday that it rejected Pfizer’s ‘final’ offer.
Pfizer has made several attempts in the past few weeks to takeover AstraZeneca, which is based in London. However, AstraZeneca has found all of these offers too low, notes The New York Times. Pfizer made one more offer late Sunday that was worth around $119 billion.
In a statement on Monday, AstraZeneca said that the latest bid “undervalues the company and its attractive prospects.”
Indeed, later in its statement, AstraZeneca Chairman Leif Johansson termed Pfizer’s pursuit as one that “appears to have been fundamentally driven by the corporate financial benefits to its shareholders of cost savings and tax minimisation.” He accused Pfizer of failing to “make a compelling strategic, business or value case.”
According to CNN Money, Pfizer said that it will not make a hostile bid and confirmed that the Sunday offer really was its last.
“We have tried repeatedly to engage in a constructive process with AstraZeneca to explore a combination of our two companies," Pfizer CEO Ian Read previously said.
As a result of the news, AstraZeneca’s shares dropped 11.7 percent to 42.59 pounds during London trading.