Drugmaker Pfizer decides not to break up business

Drug giant Pfizer says it won't split into two publicly traded companies, despite pressure from investors frustrated by its lagging stock price, ending years of Wall Street speculation over its strategy and future.
The biggest US-based drugmaker said Monday it believes it is best positioned to maximize shareholder value in its current form, but it reserves the right to split in the future if the situation changes.
For several years, the maker of Viagra and the pain treatment Lyrica has been under growing pressure from analysts and investors who argued that by splitting up, the resulting two companies might grow faster than one.

As a result, Pfizer has been reporting detailed financial results for each of its business segments, information that would be required by regulators for a split. Earlier this year, Pfizer promised a decision by the end of the year, but then it reorganised and renamed those segments - a sign a breakup was less likely.
Chances of the breakup began to fade even more over the summer, due in part to increasing sales for key new drugs from Pfizer and rising prospects for its drugs under development.
Pfizer CEO Ian Read told analysts last month that the prospect of a split was not a "make-or-break decision" for the company. The company recently said it had spent USD 600 million on preparations for such a split.

"Given that Pfizer has been talking down expectations for a separation in recent months, we think the stock will only be down modestly on this news," Jeffries analyst Jeffrey Holford wrote to investors.

Shares of Pfizer Inc fell 70 cents, or 2 per cent, to USD 33.56 in afternoon trading Monday. The stock is up about 5.4 per cent over the past year.
Pfizer said today that a split would not help the competitive positioning of its businesses, and such a move would create disruptions and increased costs.
The drugmaker's most likely path forward involves hunting for more acquisition targets, according to Bernstein analyst Dr Tim Anderson, who had pressed Pfizer repeatedly on its quarterly results conference calls to break up.

Pfizer has been buying several companies and products to help make up for a wave of sales losses to cheaper, generic competition, most notably for the cholesterol pill Lipitor. It also attempted and failed at two mega-acquisitions, of Britain's AstraZeneca Plc in 2014 and this year of Ireland's Allergan Plc.