Ivax Corporation of the USA and Hafslund Nycomed of Norway have announced that their planned merger is off (Marketletter October 23). Hafslund did not manage to gain the support required from shareholders for the deal to go ahead. It is understood that several of the group's main shareholder groups were not convinced of the long-term prospects of the firms should they merge.
The two companies have decided instead to form a strategic alliance within the pharmaceutical sector. They have agreed to enter into a number of licensing and collaboration agreements.
Phillip Frost, chairman and chief executive of Ivax commented: "we regret that we will not be able to share the tremendous potential of our respective companies to the same extent that we would have had we merged. Although we will, through agreements and strategic alliances, realize a sizeable portion of the merger's benefits, we hope to revisit the possibility of merging our companies in the future."
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