Pfizer agrees to buy Wyeth for $68 bn: Reports

NEW YORK: Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is closing in on a $ 68-billion buyout deal with rival Wyeth, according to media reports.

Quoting people involved in the negotiations, the New York Times said that Pfizer has agreed 'in-principle' last night to acquire Wyeth for $ 68 billion.

On the funding of the deal, the Wall Street Journal said that Pfizer has secured $ 22.5 billion loan from banks and plans to use stock and its cash reserves to fund the rest of the transaction.

"Pfizer is expected to offer Wyeth shareholders $ 50.19 per share, paying $ 33 a share in cash and $ 0.985 a share in Pfizer stock," the Journal stated.

Quoting people familiar with the matter, the WSJ said: "A group of five banks -- Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays Capital and Citigroup -- have each agreed to provide $ 4.5 billion in financing."

Pfizer's products include the anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor and the erectile stimulant Viagra.

The deal would make Pfizer, already the world's biggest drug maker by revenue, even bigger with a product line that includes everything from Advil pain medication to Centrum vitamins and Lipitor, a cholesterol drug, it added.

"The deal would not only create a pharmaceutical behemoth but would be a rarity in the current financial tumult: a big acquisition that is not a desperate merger of two banks orchestrated by the government," the NYT said.

The New York-based Pfizer employs 83,400 people, has slashed 15,000 jobs since January 2007 and is preparing to cut thousands more in the coming months. Wyeth, based in New Jersey, counts 46,000 employees.