M&A Strong Last Year

It was an interesting year for M&A in 2006, with the total value of deals rising around 25% to US$3.6bn, as pharmaceutical companies around the world increasingly jostled for position. However, the year was characterised by large numbers of mid-level deals, rather than any super-size mergers. Among the leading multinationals there was a strong trend towards divestiture and the rationalisation of assets in order to allow a greater focus on core businesses. This suggests that companies are finding it more and more difficult to push ahead in key areas such as small molecule prescription pharmaceuticals, which has driven the expansion

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