ETFs to Play Biotech M&A
By Kevin Grewal, Contributor 12/15/10 - 11:40 AM EST
This activity has been fueled by cash-heavy companies looking to diversify and broaden their horizons.
To put this into perspective, in just two days, nearly $3.1 billion in biotech-related deals were announced, and some suggest more activity is to come.
Big Pharma front-runners such as Pfizer(PFE_), Sanofi-Aventis(SNE_), Amgen(AMGN_) and Merck(MRK_) are expected to find themselves in something of a rut because of expiring patents and lackluster drug pipelines.
As a result, Big Pharma is likely to look at smaller, more nimble companies that are focusing on specific treatments and medical specialties.
Some ETFs that are likely to be influenced by this increased activity include:
* SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, which allocates nearly 51.5% of its assets to small-cap companies and 30.75% to medium-cap companies, which are the most susceptible to M&A activity.
* iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF, which tracks big players like Amgen as well as small and mid-cap stocks that are prime targets for M&A.
* Biotech HOLDRs, which predominantly allocates its holdings to large-cap companies such as Amgen, Gilead Sciences(GILD_) and Biogen Idec Inc(BIIB_). These are the likely acquirers in the sector.
* iShares Dow Jones US Pharmaceuticals, which includes drug giants Pfizer and Merck among its top holdings.
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