Tobacco giants Philip Morris International and the Altria Group are in talks to reunite, the companies said Tuesday, in a deal that would combine the most popular brands of both traditional and electronic cigarettes.
The move would also allow Philip Morris to profit from Juul rather than compete with it. Philip Morris’ marquee product in the e-cigarette market is IQOS, a penlike device that warms a tobacco stick and releases a vapor with the taste of tobacco but has fewer harmful chemicals than cigarette smoke does. It is available in more than 47 countries but was only recently approved for sale in the United States.
But in the global race to market reduced-risk nicotine products, both companies would benefit from lower costs and higher production, Bonnie Herzog, a managing director with Wells Fargo Securities, said in an email Tuesday. Garrett Nelson, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, said that it might make sense for the companies to reunite but that Philip Morris investors might balk at Altria’s debt load of $29 billion, from its investments in Juul and Cronos, a cannabis company.
“It’s hard to say it’s a good development,” said Gottlieb, who initially supported extending the deadline for Juul and other e-cigarette companies to seek agency approval, then regretted it as concerns over youth vaping grew. “One would hope the combined entity would be more focused on truly transitioning smokers off combustible tobacco and onto modified-risk products for adults who still want to access nicotine.
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