This article in GEN recounts the deals in pharma and biotech that topped $1 B in 2010. Unlike last year, where three deals topped $40 B, there was only one such deal like that in 2010 - that being Novartis' acquisition of Alcon. The next highest deal in the queque remains Sanofi's likley $18.5 B plus soon to be acquisition of Genzyme. After that, nothing topped $10 B this past year.
Acquisition Deals in 2010 that Topped $1B.
This may be another indication that mega-merger mania is really dead in the industry - partly I suspect from the mixed results being seen with Pfizer/Wyeth and Merck/Schering-Plough. This big merger/consolidations are just hard to pull off financially and operationally. Many CEO's have effectively said they will not pursue so-called mega-mergers. These include CEOs of Roche, GSK, Lilly, AZ, and Sanofi among others. All these executives purport to be looking for smaller focused purrchases in specific technology niche areas that they are trying to build for their companies.
That philosophy is more than likely the one that will prevail in the coming years - plus the fact is that there are very few, if any, mega-targets out there that are even realistic to go after - even by the Big Boys.
Posted by Bruce Lehr December 31st 2010.
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