{"text":[[{"start":14.88,"text":"UK drugmaker AstraZeneca is in talks to combine with US rival Bristol Myers Squibb in a deal that would create one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical groups, valued at nearly $400bn."}],[{"start":27.34,"text":"The companies have held discussions about a tie-up in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks could yield a deal in the near future but may be delayed or fall apart, the people said."}],[{"start":38.66,"text":"AstraZeneca, the UK’s second most valuable listed company, has a market value of about £196bn ($264bn), while BMS is worth roughly $133bn."}],[{"start":51.06,"text":"A combination of the two would be among the biggest pharmaceutical deals of all time, and propel the combined entity to become the world’s fourth-largest drugmaker by market capitalisation."}],[{"start":60.86,"text":"A deal by longtime AstraZeneca chief executive Sir Pascal Soriot would extend the drugmaker’s footprint in the US market. It would also intensify British fears of the UK’s largest companies pivoting away from the country."}],[{"start":75.02,"text":"The talks come after FTSE 100 company AstraZeneca completed a direct listing in New York in June, in a blow to the London stock market."}],[{"start":82.98,"text":"The exact structure of any deal could not immediately be determined, but would probably require both cash and shares."}],[{"start":90.14,"text":"AstraZeneca declined to comment and BMS did not immediately respond to requests for comment."}],[{"start":94.74,"text":"US rival Pfizer made a high-profile bid for AstraZeneca in 2014 that valued the drugmaker at almost £70bn. Those discussions boosted investor sentiment at a time when AstraZeneca was struggling with failures of drugs in late-stage clinical trials."}],[{"start":110.94,"text":"Soriot was instrumental in rejecting Pfizer’s approach more than a decade ago, and AstraZeneca has grown under his watch to become a powerhouse with a leading portfolio of oncology medicines. BMS also has a large cancer division."}],[{"start":124.42,"text":"AstraZeneca has set an ambitious revenue target of $80bn by 2030, compared with the $58.7bn it generated last year. That level of growth would depend heavily on the US market, where the company already earns nearly half of its revenues."}],[{"start":140.42,"text":"Soriot said on a call with reporters last week that AstraZeneca did not “need M&A to deliver” on its 2030 revenue target."}],[{"start":148.46,"text":"But in recent years the company has been active with licensing deals in China to strengthen its pipeline. Any deal would eclipse AstraZeneca’s 2021 acquisition of rare disease biotech Alexion for $39bn, the largest in its history."}],[{"start":163.78,"text":"BMS has been earmarked as an industry laggard after its $74bn deal to buy biotech Celgene in 2019 failed to yield the expected returns. It has also had to contend with massive potential losses in revenue from core drugs coming off patent in the coming years."}],[{"start":180.7,"text":"Any cross-border deal could be contentious. It is likely to face political scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic, especially in the UK over the possibility of AstraZeneca using the deal to redomicile in the US."}],[{"start":193.06,"text":"Any combination would come under tough antitrust scrutiny, given that both have large cancer divisions. Evan Seigerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note on Sunday that the “significant business overlap” between the pharma groups’ cancer drug portfolios “could reduce the odds of a successful merger”."}],[{"start":210.1,"text":"Bristol’s Opdivo and AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi are direct competitors as treatments for non-small cell lung cancer, noted Seigerman."}],[{"start":218.14,"text":"Still, it comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration has shown an openness to dealmaking that has helped push US M&A volumes to near-record levels."}],[{"start":226.86,"text":"BMS shares have risen 21 per cent since the start of the year, while AstraZeneca has fallen 8 per cent over the same period."}],[{"start":234.58,"text":"Additional reporting by Ivan Levingston, Aanu Adeoye and Patrick Temple-West"}],[{"start":244.74,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785736167_7359.mp3"}