AstraZeneca-Gilead Would Be Biggest Health-Care Deal on Record

(Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest pharmaceutical and health-care companies were largely formed through mega mergers over the last two decades.

If AstraZeneca Plc and rival drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. were to pursue a combination, it would rank as the biggest health-care deal of all time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. U.K.-based AstraZeneca last month made a preliminary approach to its U.S. competitor to gauge interest in a tie-up, according to people familiar with the matter.

Depending on the size of any potential premium, a combination could even surpass Pfizer Inc.’s failed attempt to buy AstraZeneca in 2014 for about $117 billion, which would have been the largest ever health-care deal.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.