Pfizer and Allergan abandon merger after US tax loophole is closed

A merger between the United States drug company Pfizer and the Ireland based Allergan has been abandoned “by mutual agreement of the companies” after new tax rules in the US negated the advantages that the deal was supposed to have delivered.1

The deal, which was worth $160bn (£106bn; €150bn), was due to go ahead later this year, and would have created the biggest drug maker by sales. The purchase of Allergan by Pfizer, known as a “tax inversion deal,” would also have led to savings worth an estimated $2bn over three years because, …