Perrigo rejects raised Mylan bid; Teva recommits to Mylan buy

NEW YORK — Perrigo Co. Ltd. on Wednesday rejected a sweetened takeover offer from Mylan NV, while Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said it remains committed to acquiring Mylan, in a high stakes battle of major generic drug makers.

Mylan’s pursuit of Perrigo, which also sells over- the- counter consumer products, is widely seen as an attempt to fend off Teva, the world’s biggest maker of generic drugs.

Mylan’s latest offer, worth $ 34.1 billion, comprised $75 in cash and 2.3 of its shares for each Perrigo share, up from a previous $60 in cash and 2.2 shares.

With Mylan raising its bid for Perrigo, it appeared more likely that Teva would increase the size of the cash component of its rejected bid for Mylan, Leerink analyst Jason Gerberry said.

Based on Mylan’s Tuesday close, the raised offer valued Perrigo at $242 per share. The previous offer was about $220 per share.

Perrigo said it viewed Mylan’s latest offer to be worth $202.20, based on Mylan’s March 10 share price of $55.31, before speculation over Teva’s interest in Mylan pushed up the stock.

“Today’s announcement from Mylan continues to propose a price lower than the previously rejected proposal,” Perrigo said.

Mylan summarily rejected Teva’s $40-billion offer on Monday, saying it grossly undervalued the company, and made public a scathing letter to Teva management from Executive Chairman Robert Coury, who took several shots at the Israel-based company. Mr. Coury said Mylan did not want to be paid with Teva’s “high-risk” stock and he raised antitrust issues.

Teva Chief Executive Officer Erez Vigodman responded on Wednesday in a letter to Mr. Coury that took exception to the tone of Mr. Coury’s response and attempted to rebut Mylan’s lengthy list of objections to a deal.

Mr. Vigodman said Mr. Coury painted “a fundamentally distorted picture of Teva” and that stakeholders of the two companies do not “benefit from mudslinging, mischaracterization, rehashing of history or selective presentation of facts.”

Teva said its $82-per-share cash and stock offer was now worth $43 billion and was “more attractive” for Mylan shareholders than any alternative. It also said it did not see significant antitrust hurdles, adding that any potential divestitures would be manageable. —