Teva Pharmaceutical Says Its Offer to Buy Mylan Is ‘Strong and Serious’

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries on Monday responded to Mylan’s letter of last week, saying that contrary to doing little more than “meddling,” its offer to buy Mylan is “strong and serious.”

The Israeli pharmaceutical company’s more-than-$40-billion proposal “offers exceptional opportunity for Mylan’s and Teva’s stockholders and other stakeholders and deserves careful review and engagement by your board and your stockholders,” Teva President and CEO Erez Vigodman wrote to Mylan Executive Chairman Robert Coury.

Generic-drug maker Mylan is run from outside Pittsburgh, but reincorporated in the Netherlands earlier this year.

In a letter to Vigodman last week, Coury accused Israel-based Teva of “playing games” with Mylan shareholders by pushing an “illusionary” buyout offer that has no chance of going through.

“There is nothing unclear or equivocal about Teva’s intentions,” Vigodman said in his letter Monday. “We have a clear roadmap to deliver on our proposal.”

Vigodman also said that contrary to Mylan’s assertion, Teva’s 2.2 percent stake in Mylan — which Teva accumulated recently by buying shares on the open market — does not violate U.S. antitrust laws.

“We have conferred with the U.S. antitrust authorities and have been given no reason to believe that our purchases violate the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act or any other U.S. antitrust laws,” he said.

This article appeared in print in the June 9th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.