AHP Says CFO Will Retire in February

American Home Products Corp. said Chief Financial Officer Robert Blount will retire next month for personal reasons, unrelated to the company’s planned merger with fellow New Jersey drug maker Warner-Lambert Co. AHP said the 61-year-old executive will be replaced by Kenneth Martin, who is currently senior vice president and chief financial officer of the company’s Wyeth-Ayerst pharmaceuticals unit. Blount, a 25-year veteran of AHP, will also retire Feb. 1 from his posts as senior executive vice president and member of the company’s board of directors. Martin, 45, joined AHP in 1984 and has served as president of American Home Foods and the company’s Whitehall-Robins Healthcare division. He was previously an audit manager with the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen. AHP and Warner-Lambert on Nov. 4 said they had agreed to merge to form the world’s largest drug company, a behemoth to be called AmericanWarner Inc. Hours later, New York drug maker Pfizer Inc. made an unsolicited bid for Warner-Lambert. The bid was valued at the time at about $82 billion. AHP shares rose 69 cents to close at $42.19 on the NYSE.