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| Mylan Chairman Robert Coury |
Clock's ticking, Teva ($TEVA), as far as deal target Mylan's ($MYL) concerned. The Israeli drugmaker needs to either "stop playing games" and turn its $40 billion approach into a formal bid--or walk.
Nearly 6 weeks have passed since Teva publicly expressed interest in buying its generics rival, but Mylan still hasn't received an "actual offer," company chairman Robert Coury wrote in a Monday letter to Teva CEO Erez Vigodman.
Instead, Teva has made "noncommittal, unclear, inaccurate, and non-specific statements" to shareholders, analysts and the media and built up a share in the company that Coury says violates U.S. antitrust laws. And Mylan's had enough.
If Teva and its board want to pursue a committed binding offer, that's one thing--but if not, they "must stop pursuing what amounts to nothing more than illusory alternative for our shareholders" to the rival deal Mylan has laid out--a play for OTC specialist Perrigo ($PRGO).
Of course, Mylan's shown no interest in dealing with Teva if it does put forth a formal offer. Since Teva took its interest public, Mylan has attacked Teva's business, harped on the obstacles to a tie-up and vowed to make sure a hostile takeover takes years to complete--all the while trumpeting its Perrigo plan as a superior option.
Thing is, Perrigo hasn't exactly seemed enthusiastic about being acquired, either. So far, it's rejected multiple bids from its pursuer, claiming they "substantially" undervalued the company.
"We're pretty far apart," Perrigo chief Joseph Papa told Bloomberg last month.
And that gap could widen with Perrigo's latest move. Tuesday, the company inked a pact to buy a portfolio of OTC brands from GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) that raked in $110 million last year--a transaction it expects to start kicking in to its 2015 EPS right away.
- see Coury's letter
- read more about the Perrigo/GSK deal
Special Reports: Top 10 generics makers by 2012 revenue - Mylan - Teva | Pharma's top 10 M&A deals of 2014