No one says, “Follow the synergy.” It’s always the money that matters. So when we heard the U.S. Treasury Department had issued new, more onerous rules on tax inversions on April 4, it was just a matter of time before Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) called off its historic $160 billion takeover of Allergan (NYSE: AGN). And here we are, on April 6, 2016.
Now that Pfizer and Allergan have called off their merger, which would have re-domiciled Pfizer in Ireland, we must rework some deal totals. 2015 was a superlative year for health care mergers and acquisitions, thanks in part to this transaction. Yesterday, the annual spending tally was approximately $557 billion across 13 sectors. That represented a 44% hike in spending compared with 2014’s $388 billion.
Today, 2015’s total deal value is approximately $397 billion. Still a 2% increase over 2014’s spending. The deal volume is also higher than 2014, up 14% at 1,505 transactions.
Deal volume in the first quarter of 2016 has slipped, as we will discuss in another post. Health care transactions slid to 348 in Q1:16, down 8% compared with Q1:15. Spending fell even further, to $79 billion in Q1:16, off 26% compared with the same period a year ago.
We doubt there will be a return to big deals in the near future. Pfizer’s only recourse may be to break itself up, which would create at least one multi-billion-dollar deal, but nothing on the previous scale. It was fun while it lasted.
