On March 7 1996, the then largest corporate merger in any industry was announced. Novartis was formed by the merger of Swiss drugs and chemicals leaders Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy in a deal worth Sfr75 billion ($41.2 billion). The new company held a 4.4% share of the world pharmaceuticals market, just behind GlaxoWellcome’s 4.7%, and was twice as large as its nearest rival in agrichemicals.
This momentous deal had been set in train on November 30 1995 when Marc Moret, chairman of Sandoz, crossed the Rhine in Basel, Switzerland, to meet Ciba-Geigy’s chairman, Alex Krauer.
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