Altana hit by Pfizer collaboration snub 1 Jul 2005 Pfizer has dropped rights to sell the German group s potential blockbuster drug for smokers cough bad news indeed for Altana. Worse, the resulting uncertainty may delay or nix Altana s plans to split its chemical and drugs divisions.
Oil firms hit the M&A warpath 1 Jul 2005 Royal Dutch Shell is the latest oil firm to suggest it wants to do deals. The fear is that bidders will buy assets at the top of the cycle. This fear is only half justified. Oil prices are at $60 a barrel. But oil equities discount a much lower price.
Another tiny white knight emerges in Italy 1 Jul 2005 Lodi has already bid for Antonveneta, a relative giant. Now Italian insurer Unipol may bid for BNL, a bank three times its size. Trouble is, that could scupper Unipol s solvency capital. And, unlike Lodi and Antonveneta, this deal wouldn t make much industrial sense.