THE UK Government could intervene if the biggest takeover in British corporate history goes ahead.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, told MPs in an emergency Commons statement yesterday the Government would consider testing whether it was in the public interest if Pfizer pushes ahead with plans to bid £63billion for AstraZeneca.
Mr Cable added: "This would be a serious step and not one that would be taken lightly but I'm open-minded about it whilst stressing that we are operating within serious European legal constraints."
At present, the UK Government can intervene on mergers or takeovers where there is a national security issue, an issue of media plurality, competition concerns or if it could affect financial stability.
Mr Cable stressed the Coalition would approach Pfizer's contentious takeover plan from a position of "even-handed neutrality". The American giant is run by Forfar-born Ian Read.
But the Secretary of State also made clear the UK Government was "very alive to the national interest considerations here".
His remarks came as concerns over the proposed takeover grow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article