CYANAMID GIVES IN, FOR $9.7 BILLION

American Home Products Corp., the producer of several grocery aisles full of products from Advil to Spaghetti-Os, cemented the biggest health-care industry merger in recent years with a $101 per-share bid for American Cyanamid. The board of Cyanamid, which makes Centrum Vitamins, surgical products and pesticides, resisted the hostile takeover for two weeks, but today's $9.7 billion offer was too sweet to pass up. The new entity expects $12 billion a year in sales. Wall Street was upbeat: Cyanamid surged $2.50 a share to $96.50 by early afternoon, while American Home rose 12.5 cents to $59.