Sweden fights back as Pfizer move on Astra threatens jobs

STOCKHOLM, May 16 (Reuters) :  Swedish ministers launched a fightback on Friday against US drugmaker Pfizer's proposed takeover of AstraZeneca , which has half its roots and more than 5,000 staff in Sweden, highlighting the risks to jobs and science.
Finance Minister Anders Borg, Enterprise Minister Annie Loof and Education Minister Jan Bjorklund said AstraZeneca's shareholders should "seriously consider rejecting" Pfizer's plan, unless there was clarity on its impact.
AstraZeneca, which was formed from an Anglo-Swedish merger 15 years ago, has rebuffed Pfizer's current offer but the US group is widely expected to return with a sweetened bid. AstraZeneca's chief executive has not ruled out discussions at the right price.
Pfizer has given a five-year promise to have 20 per cent of its research staff in Britain, where AstraZeneca has its headquarters, but it has not spelt out what this means in absolute numbers.
At the same time, the US company has said that the overall research budget of a merged group would be lower than the sum of the two companies' individual research budgets.