Pfizer’s chief executive has called on Washington to support its $160bn takeover of Dublin-based Allergan, as politicians including Hillary Clinton lined up against the drugmaker’s attempt to slash its tax bill by moving overseas.
The third largest announced deal in history, it caps a frenzied year of mergers and acquisitions and brings the total value of global deals unveiled since the start of 2015 to more than $4.2tn. This surpasses the previous record set in 2007 on the eve of the financial crisis, according to Thomson Reuters.
Pfizer, founded in Brooklyn in 1849, stands to save at least $21bn in future tax bills by moving the combined group to Ireland, according to tax experts, joining other brands that have fled overseas through “inversions”, such as Burger King and Liberty Global, John Malone’s cable group.