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| Teva CEO Erez Vigodman |
Watch who you're calling "unclear," Mylan ($MYL). That's the message Teva's ($TEVA) leaders had for their takeover target's chairman, Robert Coury, in a response to recent accusations that their company is "playing games" with its deal talk.
Teva CEO Erez Vigodman and Chairman Yitzhak Peterburg wrote to Coury Monday to address his demands that Teva put down an "actual offer" for Mylan or let it proceed with its plan to buy Perrigo ($PRGO). And as far as they're concerned, it's Mylan that's avoiding a serious offer and keeping shareholders in the dark.
First off, Coury has reportedly told analysts that Mylan leadership would make sure a hostile takeover took years, thus putting shareholders in a "tough place" and steering them toward a Perrigo transaction. The way Teva sees it, the company's execs are "depriving [shareholders] of a fair and honest financial analysis" of its proposal, compared with the Perrigo alternative.
And then there are Coury's objections to Teva's growing stake in Mylan, which he says is large enough to violate U.S. antitrust laws. It's perfectly legal, Vigodman and Peterburg insist--especially considering that Mylan is no longer technically based in the U.S.
"We note that you have been saying you are a Dutch company when you believe it helps you create unprecedented governance structures, a U.K. company when it helps you lower your U.S. taxes and a U.S. company when you believe it helps you prevent Teva from purchasing Mylan shares," they wrote.
Overall, the Teva execs think there's "nothing unclear or equivocal about Teva's intentions" and the details of its $40-billion-plus offer, which they called "strong and serious." But just to leave no room for doubt, they spelled things out for Coury: Teva's going through with the takeover bid whether Mylan likes it or not.
"While our desire remains to reach agreement on a transaction, we will continue to take the steps necessary to accomplish our proposal," they wrote.
Mylan, meanwhile, will have to hope investors find its Perrigo plot as attractive as it does--and that Perrigo does, too. So far, the Dublin OTC specialist has rejected Mylan a handful of times, with skipper Joseph Papa saying recently that the two drugmakers are "far apart" when it comes to how his company should be valued.
- read the letter
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