US based pharmaceutical company Pfizer has proposed to take over its British rival AstraZeneca for 60 billion pounds (101 billion dollars).
According to Fox News, senior investment bankers and industry sources say that informal conversations about a deal had taken place between the two but that no talks were currently under way after AstraZeneca resisted the approach.
While AstraZeneca has several expiring patent issues that makes the company a soft target to takeover, its new steps in the experimental cancer drugs can be an interesting factor for the rival company.
Another reason for the takeover could be the fall that the British company is facing. The company faced six percent fall in Q-4 last year, and expects to bear more losses in 2014.