Glaxo and SmithKline Beecham Deny Reports They've Revived Talks on Merger
Bloomberg News
August 17, 1998, 3:12 a.m. ET
Glaxo, SmithKline Deny Merger Talks Have Been Revived (Update1)
(Adds SmithKline denial in 3rd paragraph.)
London, Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Glaxo Wellcome Plc and rival
drugmaker SmithKline Beecham Plc denied reports that they've
revived talks on a merger.
''There were discussions (in January and February) and they
were terminated,'' said Martin Sutton, spokesman for Glaxo. He
declined to comment further.
Lynne Smith, a spokeswoman for SmithKline Beecham, also
denied merger talks have been revived.
The companies abandoned merger talks in February amid
management disagreements. Both companies now say they have no
need for a merger.
Trading in Glaxo, the world's second-biggest drug company,
was suspended by the Tokyo Stock Exchange amid speculation that
the two companies may have revived merger talks.
The speculation followed a report in the Nihon Keizai
newspaper, which cited the Press Association, a U.K. news
service, as saying the two companies would merge.
--Dane Hamilton in the London newsroom (44-171) 330-7727/ph |
