http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/10/20/paulson-urges-allerganshire-tie-up/ Hedge-fund firm Paulson & Co. recently urged Allergan Inc.AGN +2.12%’s chief executive to consider merging with Shire SHPG +1.94% PLC, the Irish drug company whose takeover by AbbVie Inc.ABBV +0.65% fell apart last week, according to a person familiar with the matter. Allergan CEO David Pyott last week received a call from the firm, a large shareholder of both companies, one of the people said. It wasn’t clear how Mr. Pyott responded or whether Allergan, the larger of the two with a market value of about $54 billion, is interested in Shire. Buying Shire, worth about $36 billion as of Friday’s market close, could help Allergan fend off a hostile takeover it’s resisted by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.VRX.T +2.01% and investor William Ackman. Allergan and Shire have a combined market value of about $90 billion, too large for Valeant to swallow. Paulson owned 2% of Allergan as of June 30, and owned about 4.4% of Shire as of Friday, according to regulatory filings. An Allergan deal for Shire could help buoy Shire’s share price, whose sharp tumble last week hurt Paulson and other hedge funds that had piled into the stock in recent months. Shire is newly single after its $54 billion sale to Illinois-based AbbVie collapsed last week. AbbVie’s board withdrew its support for the deal, a so-called tax inversion that would have moved the combined company’s legal home to the U.K., citing new U.S. Treasury Department regulations that made such transactions less attractive. Allergan, known for its anti-wrinkle treatment Botox, had earlier approached Shire about a possible combination, the person said.
Looking at the pipelines, this would actually be a very good merger for the two companies. It makes much more sense than the Abbvie deal.
I don't know if this merger will happen but Shire was in talks with a couple of companies before the ABBVie offer so I fully expect an announcement of some sort shortly. Anyone else notice how quiet our leaders have been? The quiet before the storm.
Here's a huge announcement stick to delivering pizza pies and diet soda for lunch you can't spell debacle!!!