Merck's US$8bn jumbo the tip of pharma new issue iceberg

摘要

Merck & co kicked off the year's expected avalanche of acquisition financings by pharmaceutical and medical device companies with a blow-out US$8bn bond offering. It is the first of some US$50bn worth of such deals in the pipeline, some of which could also end up splitting the financing between dollars and euros. Actavis, for example, is looking to issue about US$27bn of debt to help finance its purchase of Allergan, valued at US$66bn.