Mylan Bids $205/Share for Generic Drug Maker Perrigo--4th Update

By Angela Chen 

Mylan N.V. has proposed acquiring Perrigo Co. in a cash-and-stock transaction that would value the maker of generic drugs at $205 a share.

The proposal is worth about $30 billion in cash and stock based on Perrigo's share count of 147 million at March 30. The per-share offer represents a 25% premium to Perrigo's close on April 3, the last trading day before Mylan's proposal.

Shares of Perrigo, a maker of over-the-counter health-care products, jumped 19% in afternoon trading to $195.45 but are down from their intraday high of $215.73. Shares of drug maker Mylan recently rose 14% to $68.

Perrigo, in a news release, confirmed it had received a proposal and that its board would meet to discuss the offer; however, it declined further comment.

Mylan Executive Chairman Robert J. Coury said in a separate news release that the proposal is the result of prior discussions between the two companies and that Mylan had dedicated a team to evaluate Perrigo. He added that the deal would create a company with pharmaceutical expertise as well as a high-quality operating platform.

The combined company would have had about $15.3 billion in pro forma sales in 2014.

In a letter to Perrigo Chief Executive Joseph Papa, Mr. Coury said the deal offered "a broader variety of opportunities to our employees and increased stability for the communities." The letter added that Mylan wanted Mr. Papa to be co-chairman of the combined company and a member of Mylan's board.

Mylan, based in England, specializes in developing and distributing generic drugs and has had its eye on acquisitions.

In February, it bought part of Abbott Laboratories' generic-drugs business for $5.3 billion in a deal structured as a tax inversion. Mylan also recently agreed to buy certain women's health-care businesses from India's Famy Care Ltd. for $750 million in cash, in a move that will position Mylan as a leading provider of contraceptives in emerging markets. Last month, it reported an "exceptional" quarter as profit grew 5%.

For its part, Perrigo last year agreed to buy Belgium-based Omega Pharma NV in a bid to expand its portfolio of over-the-counter drugs and broaden its market presence throughout Europe.

Both companies are in Europe: Mylan in the Netherlands, and Perrigo in Dublin. As such, they benefit from lower corporate taxes than their American counterparts, giving them more flexibility in deal-making.

In recent years, more businesses--especially in the medical and health-care industries--have attempted tax inversions, which is when an American company moves its tax home to a country such as the U.K. or Ireland for the lower taxes.

Mylan's $5.3 billion acquisition of part of Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories' generic-drugs business has been structured as an inversion deal.

Last June medical-device maker Medtronic agreed to acquire Dublin-based Covidien PLC for $42.9 billion and become an Irish company. Drug maker AbbVie tried the same with its planned $54 billion acquisition of Irish drug company Shire PLC. The deal was eventually called off in light of new tax rules from the U.S. Treasury Department that seek to discourage such inversions.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

Corrections & Amplifications

An earlier version misstated Robert Coury's title at Mylan as well as the headquarters for the two companies.

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