|
CNBC'S MOST SHARED
- Explosion in Social Media Fails To Create Many Jobs—So Far
- Sasha Grey
- 'Twittering' One's Thumbs During Bank Robbery
- Under Armour's New Recovery Suit
- CIT Talks Fall Apart, Bankruptcy Filing Likely Friday
- Walking a Fine Line: How Companies Use Twitter
- The Coming Carbon Bubble
- Web Site to Publish Sensitive Hacked Twitter Info
- Foreclosures Rise 15% in First Half of 2009
- CIT Talks Fall Apart, Bankruptcy Filing Likely Friday
- BofA Under Secret Regulatory Sanction: Report
- Talks Fail to Break California Budget Deadlock
- Nokia Profit Beats; Cuts Outlooks; Shares Fall
- Novartis Bets on Faster Drugs Sales Growth
- Sony Ericsson Loss in Line, Sees Global Decline
- American Express Halts US, UK Pension Contributions
- Harley Earnings Tumble as Bike Sales Slide
- Stock Picker: Use Dips to Strengthen Your Portfolio (Pt. 2)
- Stock Picker: Use Dips to Strengthen Your Portfolio (Pt. 1)
- Harry Potter's Magic Touch
- Biggest 3-day Gain for S&P Since Rally Started
- Apple Smacks Palm, and Palm's Hollow Plea
- Your Best Commodity Trades: Strategist
- Henes: There’s Gold in Them Hills - Private Equity and Distressed Investing
- My ICAD Infraction: One Year Later
- The De-Construction of Steve Jobs' Mansion
Text Size 
Drugmakers Merck and Schering-Plough have received requests from U.S. antitrust regulators for more information on their proposed blockbuster merger.
Despite the second request from the Federal Trade Commission, the companies said on Monday they still expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter.
A Schering-Plough spokesman said the FTC request was primarily related to the companies' animal health businesses.
Merck previously said it was exploring divesting its stake in its animal health venture with Sanofi-Aventis or selling a similar unit at Schering as part of the planned merger.
The companies said they had anticipated the FTC request and would cooperate fully.
Merck's acquisition of Schering, pegged at $41.1 billion when it was announced in March, would unite the makers of the cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin.
Linda Bannister, a pharmaceutical analyst at Edward Jones, said she was "not overly concerned" about antitrust obstacles to the deal.
"I think the issue is related to the animal health business specifically," Bannister said. "I think there are plenty of other big pharma companies that are willing to take a look at those assets."
She added, "I would be surprised if the merger doesn't close as planned."
Merck [MRK
Loading...
()
] and Schering [SGP
Loading...
()
] shares were both down Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Print
Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes