23rd May 2014 05:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Big shareholders in AstraZeneca PLC have told the UK drugmaker they want the board to reopen takeover talks with Pfizer as early as August, after accepting that a deal is unlikely to be agreed with its US rival before Monday?s bid deadline, the Financial Times reports.
BlackRock and Schroders are among those that have told AstraZeneca they want the company to take a fresh look at a possible deal after the three-month cooling-off period required under UK takeover rules, the FT says, citing people familiar with BlackRock's thinking and people close to Schroders.
The newspaper quoted the people familiar with BlackRock?s thinking saying that it backed the decision to reject Pfizer?s GBP69.4 billion cash and share proposal but wanted fresh negotiations to see if the offer could be improved as early as this summer.
It quoted the people close to Schroders saying it was also keen for the two companies to re-engage as soon as possible.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a5658c12-e1cb-11e3-b7c4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz32Sb6bkJE
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @SteveMcGrath1
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