Deals
AbbVie Reconsidering Shire Sends Inversion Targets Down
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AstraZeneca Plc and other health-care companies considered to be tax-friendly takeover targets slumped after U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc. said it was reconsidering its $51.5 billion bid for Shire Plc.
AstraZeneca, a London-based drugmaker that spurned a takeover offer from Pfizer Inc. this year, dropped 2.4 percent to 4,299 pence at 3:02 p.m. in London. Smith & Nephew Plc, a British maker of artificial hips and knees that’s a potential target for Stryker Corp. of Kalamazoo, Michigan, fell 4.9 percent. Switzerland’s Actelion Ltd. fell 3.1 percent and Shire fell the most in 12 years.