Pfizer nails down Allergan deal ahead of USA crackdown

And another one has flown the coop from the U.S.to the Emerald Isle – Ireland – that boasts a less onerous corporate tax burden.

In a break from the rest of the GOP, Donald Trump has been openly critical of tax inversions and has pushed for United States corporations to pay the same flat tax regardless of where in the world they go.

On CNBC’s “Fast Money Halftime” show, Pete Najarian, co-founder of Optionmonster.com and trademonster.com, said he has owned shares of Pfizer for years.

President Barack Obama has called inversions unpatriotic and is pushing to crack down on deals, with limited success.

Last year, the Treasury Department issued new regulations to curb the financial benefits of inversions.

Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Ian Read will hold that position at the combined entity, while Allergan CEO Brent Saunders will be president and chief operating officer.

More than 50 similar deals have been done over three decades by well-known companies such as Medtronic Plc (MDT.N), Fruit of the Loom and Ingersoll-Rand Plc (IR.N).

Pfizer makes Viagra, a popular treatment for erectile dysfunction. Headlines name it one of the largest deals in M&A history.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both slammed the deal, with Mrs Clinton saying it would leave “US taxpayers holding the bag”. “It also would allow another major American corporation to hide its profits overseas”.

As this merging will take place, we all have high hopes for the better in the drug-making industry.

“Certain patients are going to not only see elevated prices, but potentially a loss of choice”, he said.

Allergan shareholders will get 11.3 shares of the new company for each of their shares.

Provided the deal receives approval from shareholders and regulators, the merged company will be listed on the NY Stock Exchange and trade under Pfizer’s current PFE ticker.

Allergan’s shares were down 1.7 percent in premarket trading, while Pfizer’s were down 2.1 percent.

The USA has the highest corporate income tax rate in the industrialised world, at 35 per cent. The United States is also the only developed country that taxes corporate profits earned overseas. Pfizer has about 95,000 employees, Allergan 15,000.

Pfizer’s top-selling drugs in 2014 were antiepileptic drug Lyrica ($4.17 billion), the Prevnar vaccines ($4.46 billion) and Enbrel, a rheumatoid arthritis drug ($3.85 billion).

“This is has been what people are more anxious about”. If finalized, the deal will be the biggest pharmaceutical merger ever.

The deal is to be structured as a “reverse merger” with Allergan taking over Pfizer, which should prevent the Obama administration from scuppering it.

Saunders said the combination would provide access to about 70 additional worldwide markets for Allergan products, such as Botox wrinkle treatment, Alzheimer’s drug Namenda and dry-eye medication Restasis. In the case of health care, some have said that as the number of players in each sector shrinks, consumers will have fewer choices and prices will rise.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Fewer Americans bought homes in October, a sign that rising home values may be pushing more would-be buyers to the real estate market’s sidelines.