Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer close to reach $9b deal with NestleApril 18, 2012 - 12:00 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is close to reaching a $9 billion deal to sell its infant nutrition business to Nestle, AFP reports citing the Wall Street Journal. The Journal said Nestle, the Swiss food giant, had apparently beaten out Groupe Danone and Mead Johnson Nutrition, which had considered a joint bid for the business, and that the final deal could be announced next week. A Pfizer spokeswoman contacted by AFP refused to comment on the report, saying "no decisions have been made at this point" on the sale of the infant nutrition business or an animal health business also set to be auctioned off. "The animal health and nutrition businesses are highly valued assets, and our decision about strategic options will be driven by value creation and delivering the best after-tax value for our shareholders," she said. Pfizer has moved to unload peripheral entities in recent months in order to focus on its core medicine business. In November its patent on the best-selling drug of all time, the cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor, expired, opening the path to generic competitors for America's most popular medication. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |