Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT), the biggest shareholder in generic pharmaceutical company Mylan N.V. (MYL) with a 14.5% stake, has announced its support for the company's $34 billion bid to buy Perrigo Company (NYSE:PRGO; TASE:PRGO).
In effect Abbott prefers Mylan buying Perrigo to the bid $40 billion bid by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) to acquire Mylan. At the same time many Mylan shareholders oppose buying Perrigo, so the Teva-Mylan deal could yet go through.
Meanwhile Teva continues buying Mylan shares and has built its stake up to 3.7% and plans reaching a 4.6% holding.
Mylan executive chairman Robert J. Coury said, "We are very pleased that, while Abbott is under no obligation to do so, Abbott has voluntarily chosen to express its support of Mylan, our strategic growth plan and stand-alone strategy, and our proposed combination with Perrigo. When we acquired Abbott's non-U.S. developed markets specialty and branded generics business earlier this year, we gained an important stakeholder in Abbott, which understands the powerful potential of our platform, and the critical importance of our scale and breadth across our distribution channels. We are grateful for Abbott's support of our long-term vision, which we firmly believe will continue to deliver strong near-term and long-term returns in this rapidly evolving industry and will promote the sustainable success of Mylan's business."
Abbott added that it supports Mylan remaining an independent company and thinks that buying Perrigo will benefit shareholders.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 16, 2015
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