New York Times claims that Johnson & Johnson to acquire a Pfizer unit

The New York Times online edition has reported that Johnson & Johnson is closing in on a deal to acquire the consumer products unit of Pfizer.

This unit of the medicine company has some really well known products including Listerine and Sudafed. The deal could be worth as much as $16 billion.

The two companies have yet not commented on these rumor reports from the media group. However, Pfizer had said sometime back that they were looking at selling or spinning off some part of their business operations.

Another market rumor claimed that they received bids for their consumer product group from companies including Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Reckitt Benckiser Plc.