Deal brings Pfizer back to poultry

In a deal worth around US$155 million, Pfizer Animal Health will soon acquire Embrex, an international agricultural biotechnology company known for its Inovoject(R) vaccine-delivery systems.

Pfizer will acquire through a merger 100 percent of the equity of Embrex for $17 per share in cash, making Embrex a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc.

Since selling off its feed-additive business in 2000 to focus on more innovative products, Pfizer has not served the poultry market.

Embrex is best known for its Inovoject(R) system, now used to vaccinate more than 80 percent of the poultry raised in North America against Marek's disease. Embrex is also active in developing new poultry vaccines and vaccine-delivery technologies.

The acquisition is subject to approval by the shareholders of Embrex, other customary closing conditions, clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and certain foreign filings. The two companies expect to finalise the acquisition in the first quarter of 2007.

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Editor WorldPoultry