Perrigo’s CEO confident shareholders will reject Mylan deal

Perrigo chief executive officer Joseph Papa said shareholders are unlikely to accept a hostile $27.1 billion takeover bid from Mylan.

Papa, who is meeting with Israel’s largest institutional investors this week, called the offer a “bad deal” in an interview with Bloomberg TV. He said he has a “high level of confidence” that they will reject it by the Nov. 13 deadline to sell their shares to Mylan.

Israeli investors together hold about 12 per cent of Perrigo, a maker of over-the-counter and generic drugs, after a 2005 acquisition prompted the company to list in Tel Aviv. Chief financial officer Judy Brown is also in Israel as Perrigo seeks to convince investors to reject Mylan, with Papa last week pledging to cut 800 jobs and buy back $2 billion of shares to boost returns.

Israel’s large block of investors might prove crucial because Mylan has said that it will proceed with the acquisition as long as at least 50 per cent of Perrigo shares are tendered. Mylan took its proposal directly to shareholders on Sept. 14th, offering $75 in cash and 2.3 Mylan shares for each Perrigo share. The bid exposes its investors to “significant financial risks” as well as to Mylan’s “troubling corporate governance,” Perrigo said a few days later.

Perrigo shareholders have until 8 a.m. New York time on Nov. 13 to sell their shares to Mylan.

Bloomberg