Pfizer delivered the depressed mergers and acquisitions market some potent medicine as 2009 dawned. In January, the New York-based pharmaceutical giant, looking to replace revenue sapped by increased competition from generic drugs, agreed to buy Wyeth of Madison, N.J., for $68 billion, in the biggest pharma deal since 2004. The merger sows hope among investment bankers that other drugmakers, facing issues similar to Pfizer’s, will follow suit.
Chief executive officers of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Sanofi-Aventis SA have all said that they are actively looking for acquisitions. The Pfizer-Wyeth merger, when completed by year-end, will generate an estimated $207 million in fees for the advisers, which included Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
