P&U "Plans" For Allergan Are Snagged

Unusually, a takeover rumor was confirmed when US company Allergan Inc said it had been having talks with newly-created Swedish-American group Pharmacia & Upjohn. However, a spokesman for P&U questioned by the Marketletter kept to the traditional line of "no comment" on rumors.

The "confirmation," if that is what it can be called, came with a statement from Allergan saying that it believes "current circumstances warrant that we depart from our established corporate policy of not commenting on market rumors and speculation concerning acquisitions and mergers [this one arising from a Wall Street Journal article]. We have been in discussions with P&U regarding a possible combination of our companies." Allergan went on to note that "the discussions involved a possible stock-for-stock merger with pooling of interest accounting treatment," which are not feasible, and the discussions have thus been terminated.