Indian units of Pfizer and Wyeth to merge

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pfizer Ltd, the Indian unit of U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc , is to take over local affiliate Wyeth Ltd , they said on Saturday after their boards approved the deal.

Shareholders of Wyeth will get seven Pfizer Ltd shares for every 10 shares held, requiring the issue of approximately 15.9 million new Wyeth shares, it said.

Wyeth Ltd has a market capitalisation of about $294 million and is already owned 51.12 percent by Pfizer Inc, which in turn owns 63.57 percent of Pfizer Ltd, which has a market capitalisation of $681 million.

Pfizer and Wyeth also announced on Saturday they would pay interim dividends of 360 rupees and 145 rupees per share respectively.

 

Apart from the Indian business Pfizer Inc bought rival Wyeth in 2009, leaving their Indian units with separate stock market listings.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup were advisors to Pfizer and Wyeth respectively, the statement added.

(Reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Greg Mahlich)