AstraZeneca set to invest £37bn in US: Move fuels fears firm with ditch UK listing
The FTSE 100 drug maker announced yesterday that it is accelerating its expansion in America with an investment that will create tens of thousands of new jobs.
Analysts said 'the Government will be kicking itself' over the company's decision to plough money into the US rather than the UK – and added bosses are 'losing patience' with Labour.
The move intensified concerns that AstraZeneca will shift its primary stock market listing from London to New York – a move that would strike a hammer blow to the City.
Trump has threatened the sector with new import levies to pressure drug makers to move factories to the US.
The President warned last week that he would impose tariffs 'probably at the end of the month' – and has previously said they could be as high as 200 per cent.
The US is Cambridge-based AstraZeneca's largest market, accounting for 42 per cent of sales – a figure boss Pascal Soriot wants to boost to 50 per cent by the end of the decade.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'The more business it does in the country, the greater the likelihood that investors might push for AstraZeneca to switch its main stock listing to the US.
'That would be bad for the UK stock market as it is one of the biggest names in the FTSE 100.'
AstraZeneca's pledge to invest in the US comes as an embarrassing snub to the Government just days after ministers unveiled a long-awaited plan to boost the UK's life sciences sector.
Relations between AstraZeneca and the Government have become more strained since Labour came to power last year.
In January, the firm axed plans for a £450million vaccine factory near Liverpool amid a funding row with ministers.
And while Soriot has slammed the UK as 'a very unattractive place to do business', he yesterday said the push into the US 'underpins our belief in America's innovation in biopharmaceuticals and our commitment to the millions of patients who need our medicines in America and globally'.
Rival manufacturers have also ramped up spending in the US as fears over tariffs swirl, including Swiss giant Roche, French firm Sanofi and FTSE 100 business Hikma.
AJ Bell's Mould said: 'The Government will be kicking itself that AstraZeneca has decided to invest in the US as Blighty will miss out on associated economic benefits.'
£1.2bn Sanofi swoop
A French pharmaceuticals giant has agreed to buy a privately owned British biotech firm for up to £1.2billion.
The deal sees Sanofi take control of Vicebio's early-stage combination vaccine candidate for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV).
Vicebio's vaccine candidate complements Sanofi's existing range, and allows it to offer a wider range to doctors and patients.
Emmanuel Heron, Vicebio's boss, said Sanofi's 'global scale and deep expertise in vaccine development provide the ideal environment to fully realize the potential of our innovative technology.
'We look forward to advancing our platform.'
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