Schering-Plough mulls Bristol-Myers bid – report

New Jersey-based Schering-Plough is contemplating making an offer for the company, which recently dismissed its CEO, according to the Star-Ledger. The report cited three people with knowledge of Schering-Plough's deliberations. Schering-Plough is smaller than Bristol-Myers but it has CEO Fred Hassan, who was responsible for the turnaround of the company.

“The concept would be the management of Schering-Plough would be the management of the joint company,” one of the people involved with the discussions said, according to the Star-Ledger. “One of the intangibles in this is Fred himself.”

The report suggested that Schering-Plough's strategy would be to orchestrate a “reverse merger” under which Bristol-Myers would acquire the smaller company in return for stock. One of the sources quoted in the article described the potential deal as “ultimately a merger of equals.”

However, some analysts were skeptical, as a dispute with a Canadian generic pharmaceuticals company over best-selling drug Plavix is not likely to be resolved until next year. The company stands to lose up to six years of exclusive rights to sell cholesterol drug Plavix in the US and most observers believe that potential buyers will hold off on any deal until the outcome is known.

Neither company has confirmed or denied the speculation.