Israeli generic drugmaker Teva has bid to purchase rival Mylan, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, for $40 billion. The offer was made as Mylan awaited word from Perrigo, an Irish pharma company for which it bid $29 billion earlier this month. Perrigo rejected Mylan’s offer, leading industry experts to suggest Teva may need to boost its bid for Mylan if it expects to acquire the firm. Teva officials predict that a deal with Mylan, which would produce more than $30 billion in revenues and $2 billion in cost savings
On this, “If they raise their bid, they will have more Mylan shareholders pressuring management to come to the table,” S&P Capital IQ analyst Jeffrey Loo told Reuters.
It is possible that Teva’s offer was prompted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of a generic version of the company’s multiple sclerosis drug, the immunomodulator Copaxone on April 20. According to The New York Times, Copaxone accounts for nearly half of Teva’s profits, in which the approved generic competitor, manufactured by Novartis, could make a serious dent.
In a statement, Teva’s president and chief executive Erez Vigodman said: “We have long respected Mylan’s business and we are confident that Mylan’s Board of Directors and stockholders will agree that our proposal represents a significantly more attractive alternative for Mylan and its stockholders than Mylan’s proposed acquisition of Perrigo.”
