The perils of pharma mega-mergers (Bloomberg)

John Rountree was asked to comment on the recent share price fall of Bayer in the light of litigation issues with its now subsidiary Monsanto. Bayer made an unsolicited bid for Monsanto in May 2016, then took more than two years to close the deal, a period in which its share price remained broadly flat. Since closing the deal in June 2018 its share price has now fallen by a staggering 40%.

Now with the benefit of additional hindsight it’s even clearer that this type of mega-merger is not suited to pharmaceutical companies. Pharma leaders are increasingly recognising the more powerful benefit of focus and collaboration, and in turn investors have become increasingly wary of mega-mergers. We will be exploring this theme in more depth in our inaugural Global 100 report to be published next month.

To view the full Bloomberg article, click here or for our views on M&A here.