By Jim Pickard and Andrew Ward in London
The UK’s opposition leader yesterday weighed into the storm over Pfizer’s bid for AstraZeneca, accusing prime minister David Cameron of acting like a “cheerleader” for the US pharmaceuticals group.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said Britain needed to introduce a stronger “public interest test” for foreign takeovers of strategically important companies.
His intervention came as Pfizer considered its next move after AstraZeneca rebuffed an improved £63bn approach on Friday. Several analysts and investors said they expected Pfizer to return with a further sweetened proposal before the May 26 deadline to make a firm bid under UK takeover rules.
Ian Read, Pfizer chairman and chief executive, will get a chance to reiterate his case for the deal today when he announces the company’s first- quarter earnings.
Mr Miliband’s criticism of the government indicated that Labour was planning to intensify its scrutiny of what would be the biggest foreign takeover of a UK company. He said the prime minister had put himself “totally in the wrong place” by allowing ministers and senior civil servants to enter talks with Pfizer over jobs and investment even as AstraZeneca resisted the US company’s approach.
“He has become a cheerleader for Pfizer’s takeover when instead he should be championing the long-term agenda for high-quality jobs in this country that AstraZeneca provides,” said Mr Miliband.
The Labour leader has also written to Mr Cameron proposing a stronger role for the UK government in overseeing any bid and future deals like it.
He acknowledged that take-overs were an essential part of a functioning economy that could lead to greater efficiencies and better services. “However, we also all recognise that too often in recent years major takeovers have failed to deliver the promised benefits,” he said. “In this particular bid the stakes could not be much higher.”
Downing Street said: “The government isn’t cheerleading for Pfizer, it is fighting for British jobs and British science.”
Mr Read last week held talks with ministers during a visit to London and on Friday issued a commitment to maintain a large presence in the UK.
Mr Miliband yesterday said no other country in the world would be “waving this bid through” on the basis of “pretty weak assurances from Pfizer”.
He added that the US group had “a pretty dubious record” in the UK, pointing to Pfizer’s partial closure of its research centre in Sandwich, in southeast England, two years ago.
Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary who had previously voiced scepticism about a public interest test for foreign takeovers, said he had become increasingly convinced more needed to be done to protect Britain’s big companies. (FT)
