Share to linkedinPlans to reunite Big Tobacco in a merger between Altria and Philip Morris International were canceled on Wednesday, with the industry facing its greatest regulatory threat in decades as the Food and Drug Administration mulls banning flavored e-cigarettes.
The $200 billion merger had been thrown into uncertainty after the recent FDA announcement, which raised the prospect of further federal and state regulation of vaping. Both companies had invested in e-cigarettes to try and offset declining sales of traditional cigarettes: Altria paid $12.8 billion for a 35% stake in Juul last year, while PMI invested more than $6 billion in a heated tobacco device called Iqos.
Analysts had predicted that a U.S. flavored e-cigarette ban would mean that the merger had become more important than ever for Altria, who needed PMI’s global access to “ distribute Juul to the developed markets, all of which have varying rules and regulations,” CFRA Research analyst Garret Nelson
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