US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has confirmed that it has agreed to acquire Pharmacia for $60 billion in stock.
The transaction is expected to be non-dilutive to adjusted diluted earnings per share in 2003, with cost savings of $2.5 billion to be achieved by 2005, it said in a statement.
Pharmacia also announced that its board of directors intends to proceed with its previously announced spin-off of its remaining 84 per cent ownership of Monsanto to its current shareholders.
After the Monsanto spin-off, Pfizer will exchange 1.4 shares of Pfizer common stock for each outstanding share of Pharmacia stock in a tax-free transaction valued at $45.08 per Pharmacia share, based on Pfizer's July 12th closing stock price of $32.20.
This transaction represents a 44 per cent premium based on the average closing prices of the two stocks over the last 30 days, adjusted for the Monsanto spin-off.
PA