The US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer said yesterday it had made an offer to merge with rival Warner-Lambert in a deal valued at $82.4 billion (€78.8 billion). Both companies are significant employers in the Republic. Pfizer, which makes the anti-impotence drug Viagra, employs 320 people at Ringaskiddy Co Cork, while Warner-Lambert plans to increase its workforce in Cork and Dublin from 630 to 1,000 by the end of next year.
The offer was made hours after Warner-Lambert and another US drug maker, American Home Products, announced a $72 billion merger agreement.
Pfizer said its offer represented a 30 per cent premium on last month's average closing price of Warner-Lambert stock.
"This combination would create the strongest, most dynamic pharmaceutical company in the world," Pfizer chairman Mr William Steere argued. Mr Steere said his proposed combination would create a company with revenues of $28 billion and market capitalisation of more than $200 billion.
"It would have one of the largest revenue bases, market valuations and research and development commitments in the business," he said.
