NEW YORK: US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Wednesday it was abandoning plans for a $160 billion merger with Allergan, citing new US rules cracking down on tie ups aimed at saving on taxes.

The deal with the Irish-based firm would have created the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.

Pfizer said in a statement the two companies “terminated by mutual agreement” plans to merge.

“Pfizer approached this transaction from a position of strength and viewed the potential combination as an accelerator of existing strategies,” said company chairman and CEO Ian Read.

Pfizer also agreed to pay Allergan $150 million to reimburse its expenses linked to the planned merger.

The decision to call off the merger came after the US Treasury Department announced new rules to discourage mergers between US and foreign businesses designed to sharply lower the US company’s tax bill.

The New York-based pharmaceutical giant said it remains on track to report its 2016 first quarter earnings on May 3.

For all of 2015, Pfizer reported earnings of $7.7 billion, down 15.2 percent from 2014. Revenues dipped 1.5 percent to $48.9 billion.

Allergan CEO Brent Saunders said in a separate statement that while he is “disappointed” that the merger will not proceed, his company is nevertheless “poised to deliver strong, sustainable growth built on a set of powerful attributes.”

[Source:- The Times Of india]