Earlier this year, pharmaceutical heavyweights Pfizer Inc. and Novo Nordisk A/S tested both their financial strength and legal creativity in a high-stakes bidding match to acquire Metsera Inc., the biotech company behind a promising next-generation GLP-1 therapy. The bidding war between two market titans created an opening for Novo to structure an inventive offer that positioned it to benefit with or without antitrust approval.
Had regulators approved the deal, it would have successfully pushed Pfizer out as a competitor. Had the transaction been blocked, Novo would have indirectly secured influence over Metsera’s promising technologies. Novo’s strategy pressured Pfizer to ...