Wall Street's money tree keeps on giving
That means more good news for Wall Street, which will reap millions in advisory and other fees if the deal goes ahead.
Allergan has already paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in fees over the past few years. That's because it's participated in a round of frenetic dealmaking over the past few years.
Actavis, which acquired Allergan in 2014 and kept the name, inverted to Ireland when it acquired Warner Chilcott in 2013. It then struck a deal to buy Forest Laboratories. Earlier this year it decided to sell its generic drugs arm to Israel-based Teva.
Allergan said Thursday that it remains strongly committed to the sale of the generics business to Teva, despite its talks with Pfizer.
Allergan and Actavis have together generated some $800 million in investment banking fees for mergers and acquisition advice and equity, debt, and loan deals since 2012, according to consultant Freeman & Co.
The Teva deal, which is still pending, would add another $60 million to $80 million.
And while details on the Allergan-Pfizer deal are still pretty sketchy, it could mean another $140-180 million in advisory fees for Wall Street, according to initial estimates from Freeman & Co.
That would bring their total investment banking fees to just over $1 billion for the four-year period, according to Freeman.