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Shares in AstraZeneca fell 1.2 percent by 0800
GMT on Friday following the news.
The largest American pharmaceuticals company, whose shares
gained more than 1 percent after the announcement late on
Thursday, said the move was in addition to the $1.3 billion
remaining on its current share buyback program.
Pfizer, which has a market valuation of about $180 billion,
earlier this year failed in its $118 billion bid to buy British
rival AstraZeneca. It has an opportunity to make a fresh run at
its target from late November under British takeover rules.
Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Read has said the company is
continuing to look at deals but investor hopes for a new bid
have dwindled recently because of the introduction of new U.S.
tax rules.
The U.S. government's tax proposals are designed to make it
harder for American firms to shift their tax bases out of the
country and into lower cost jurisdictions in Europe, as Pfizer
would do by buying AstraZeneca.
The likelihood of Pfizer resuming its pursuit has also been
diminished following the collapse of U.S. drugmaker AbbVie's $55
billion plan to buy Dublin-based Shire, as a result of the new
U.S. tax regulations.
But while investors may well view the big new share buyback as
another blow to the idea of a Pfizer bid, ISI Group analyst Mark
Schoenebaum cautioned against reading too much into it. "We
cannot and should not necessarily make that read-across," he
said in a note.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler and Bill Berkrot; editing by Andrew
Hay and Susan Thomas)
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