Pfizer's designs on AstraZeneca stir tax envy among rivals

Rumors about a massive healthcare deal were circulating in industry circles, months before Pfizer Inc disclosed its $100 billion pursuit of Britain's AstraZeneca Plc, according to several industry bankers and lawyers. As rivals and bankers assessed what it could mean for different companies in the industry, one aspect touched nearly everyone: what it could mean for an increasingly popular U.S. tax loophole. U.S. healthcare companies worried that if a household name like Pfizer changed its domicile to Britain to lower its tax rate as a result of a deal with AstraZeneca, it would spur Congress into action and close the tax arbitrage opportunity, called tax inversion, for everyone else, these people said.

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