March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. agreed to buy rival U.S. drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp. for $41.1 billion in cash and stock to get a larger experimental pipeline and products unhindered by imminent patent losses. Schering-Plough holders will get $23.61 a share, a 34 percent premium to the closing stock price last week, the companies said in a Business Wire statement. Shares of Kenilworth, New Jersey-based Schering-Plough rose the most in a month in New York trading on March 6 on speculation of a bid from Merck or Johnson & Johnson. âIt clearly is a year of mergers for pharmaceutical companies,â said Philippe Lanone, an analyst at Natixis Securities in Paris, in a telephone interview. âThey donât have much of a choice if they are to guarantee EPS growth in the years to come.â Schering-Plough has medicines in late-stage testing that may generate more than $6 billion in annual sales, the company said at a November analyst meeting. Last month, Schering-Ploughâs earnings beat analyst estimates after the drugmaker added sales from its acquisition of Organon BioSciences and reduced costs. Under the terms of the deal, Schering-Plough shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each share of Schering-Plough. The cash portion will be financed with a combination of $9.8 billion from existing cash balances and $8.5 billion from committed financing to be provided by JPMorgan Chase & Co. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJXSizhf4SXU&refer=home Merger Monday ;=))