Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has asked officials to monitor drugmaker Vectura Group’s proposed takeover by US tobacco group Philip Morris International, the Times newspaper reported.
Kwarteng is understood to be working with officials to better understand the plans Philip Morris has for Vectura, according to the report, which did not elaborate on the officials.
Philip Morris agreed on Friday to buy Vectura for £1 billion, giving the US firm access to the British drugmaker’s respiratory ailment treatments and inhaling device technology.