Merck willing to consider major buyout

[industry_news]

With its big rivals all busy making headlines with their plans for market-shaking acquisitions, Merck says it is leaving the sidelines and taking the M&A field. In talks with analysts, the pharma giant's CEO said that Merck would look across a gamut of potential acquisitions, including possibly a major buyout.
"I don't think in today's world any CEO can categorically rule out any type of transaction," CEO Richard Clark said.
It's a huge change of direction for Merck, which has limited its interest to rare deals for small and medium-sized companies. The pharma company has steadfastly stuck by its in-house research division to turn out new products. But with Pfizer buying Wyeth, Roche on the hunt for Genentech and Sanofi-Aventis securing billions of dollars for a bid of its own, Merck clearly could no longer stick to its game plan of going it alone.
Analysts quickly began buzzing over Clark's qualifications for a deal. He doesn't want to do a deal that requires a cut in dividends, which would seem to rule out a mega deal. But that could change if Merck runs into development problems or a particularly tempting target takes shape.
- check out the report in the Wall Street Journal
Related Articles:
Merck priority for 2009: Dealmaking
Merck to create biotech unit
Merck takes the long road
Merck's 2009 estimates disappoint Street
More suffering at Merck ahead


More...