Biotech Values

[Jonathan Robinson]

On SI, the assertion was made that PFE’s merely starting the ball rolling on a merger with SEPR would not be considered competing with NBIX. Again, I think this is nuts. It’s the kind of talk I would expect to see (and did see) on Yahoo, but not on SI.

You only ever believe your own interpretation but in this case are likely wrong. Their is no competition in this case until the merger closes unless they have a very non-standard definition of intent. I can tell you some of the deals I have done (IB) in the past had non-competes which would not catch a merger closing after the end of the non-compete period. The reason this quite strange situation even arises is because of the PFE agreement continuing for 180 days post-notice of termination since the non-compete goes for the life of the agreement (which now ends in 179 days). If one had contemplated that the non-compete should apply to forbid mergers, then you might be correct.

In the area of labor law, it is quite standard to sign a new labor agreement and sit out a gardening period for your non-compete. The mere signing of the new contract does not violate the agreement.

Jon