Regulators could read Novo’s attempt to outbid as a strategy by a dominant player to eliminate potential competition, which likely makes a Novo deal a harder antitrust review than Pfizer’s, David O’Hara, a managing director at merger arbitrage specialist MKI Global Partners, wrote in a note to clients.

“There has to be some risk that Pfizer will now simply be lobbying the Trump admin to have Trump tweet against Novo’s competing bid and shoot this dead,” he said. “Pro-America and pro-consumer/competition is the clear message here.”

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