Globally, the combined company would have $26 billion in annual sales, bolstered by a roster of drugs such as cholesterol-fighting Lipitor, female hormone therapy Premarin, epilepsy treatment Neurontin and anti-depressant Effexor.

In India, AHP's pharma subsidiary, Wyeth Lederle, is currently ranked 19th (market share of 1.61 per cent), while Parke Davis (which is 40 per cent owned by Warner Lambert) comes in at number 22 with a market share of 1.42 per cent, as per ORG MAT, August 1999. Glaxo-Wellcome leads the pack with a market share of 6.03 per cent, followed by Cipla with 4.18 per cent.

Though there are no major areas of product overlap in the pharamceutical segment, analysts said the AHP group is likely "to call the shots" in India, given their sales muscle, subsidiary status and slew of newer product launches. Both Wyeth Lederle and Parke Davis have products in the female healthcare segment.

AHP operates through three companies in India, besides the 50.37 per cent owned Wyeth Lederle. These include 40 per cent subsidiaries Cyanamid Agro (the demerged agri products arm with brands like Cascade for mite control and Stomp, a herbicide) and Geoffrey Manners & Co (brands include Anne French and lubricating oil Chexol), besides a wholly-owned arm, ACCO.

Cyanamid Agro and ACCO are believed to be on course to a merger, though it is unclear whether the latest development overseas could force any change of plans. Analysts add that they are unsure whether Cyanamid Agro would be impacted at all, given that Warner Lambert has no presence in the agrochem sector.

Warner Lambert is represented by its 40 per cent arm, Parke Davis and 100 per cent subsidiary, Warner Lambert India Pvt Ltd, essentially into the confectionery business (popular brands include Chicklet). An analyst with a foreign brokerage claimed that a stake hike to 51 per cent in Parke Davis "now made more sense than ever before".

Analysts also said that Parke-Davis' operating margins at 11 per cent are well below that of Wyeth Lederle at 21 per cent. ORG figures for August 1999 (MAT), however, indicate that Parke Davis has registered a growth of 4.9 per cent while Wyeth Lederle had notched a negative growth of -0.7 per cent.

On the products front, popular Parke-Davis brands include Calcal, Pyridium and Ionozem in the gynaec care and cardiac care segments while consumer healthcare brands include Ferradol, Benedryl and Waterbury's compound. Wyeth Lederle, on the other hand, has launched a range of hi-tech products including the Hibtitter for Hib meningitis, besides Tetramune (for diptheria, whooping cough etc) and Pnu-Imune 23 for pneumococcal diseases. Wyeth Lederle has rationalised a range of non-strategic products recently.

Parke-Davis has a manufacturing and research unit at Uppal in Hyderabad (the property at its erstwhile unit at Saki Naka in Mumbai is in the process of being sold), while Wyeth Lederle has two units at Atul (Gujarat) and Ghatkopar in Mumbai.