Pfizer Offered $53 a Share for Wyeth; Wyeth Failed to Say Yes

Wyeth didn't take an offer from Pfizer of $53 a share, according to a Wyeth proxy statement filed yesterday. Pfizer eventually acquired Wyeth for $50.33 a share.

Wyeth's failure to say yes to Pfizer's highest offer comes in the company's explanation of how it was acquired, filed as part of the materials for Wyeth shareholders to vote on to accept the merger.

The $53 offer came on Sept. 9, 2008. Instead of saying yes, Wyeth sat on the offer to consider it; its stock was at $41.27 at the time.

Everyone remembers what happened next: The stock market tanked, and Wyeth's went with it. Pfizer's followed suit, and eventually Pfizer withdrew its offer in favor of $46 a share. Wyeth stock was down to $35.01 a share at the time.

Wyeth rejected that offer.

So Pfizer bid again, at $47.50 a share.

At this point, "Company X" came along. For some reason, Wyeth is still using this codename even though Company X was long ago revealed to be Abbott Labs.

Abbott was unable to bid more than the mid $40s for Wyeth. Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler was never told he had a competitor.

Only after that did Pfizer get to $50.33.

There were some who said at the time of the acquisition that the advantage Kindler had was the market collapse: There was no other period that Wyeth was going to be so cheap. But now Wyeth has revealed that Kindler was not a genius of market timing after all -- that in fact he was prepared to go higher -- and it was the banking crisis that lowered Wyeth's price for him.

Hat tip to PhillyInc.