Pfizer says shareholders snap up remaining Zoetis shares

(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc said on Monday that enough investors had offered to trade their shares of the drugmaker for those in its majority owned Zoetis Inc animal health business, a final step in the spinoff of the unit.

The company said it would distribute all Zoetis Class A common stock, representing more than 80 percent of all of the unit's shares, to investors who tendered required shares of Pfizer stock. As a result, Pfizer said it no longer would hold any ownership interest in Zoetis.

With Zoetis fully divested, Pfizer said it expected full-year earnings, excluding special items, of $2.10 to $2.20 per share. That is below its previous forecast of $2.14 to $2.24.

The exchange offer of 0.9898 Zoetis share for each Pfizer common share expired on Friday. In effect, Pfizer accepted more than 405 million of its shares in return for almost 401 million Zoetis shares that it owned.

The company said it expected to complete the exchange on Wednesday.

Pfizer projected 2013 revenue of $50.8 billion to $52.8 billion, down from its earlier forecast of $55.3 billion to $57.3 billion.

But the drugmaker said it still expected the Zoetis spinoff to boost its earnings in 2014.

Shares of Pfizer were down 1 percent at $28.17 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, amid a 1.7 percent decline for the Arca Pharmecaceutical Index <.drg> of large U.S. and European drugmakers.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pfizer-says-shareholders-snap-remaining-zoetis-shares-142837716.html

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