Mylan to Teva: 'Stop meddling in our affairs'
“Almost six weeks have passed since Teva’s public and unsolicited, non-binding expression of interest on April 21, 2015, yet there still is no clarity on whether or not Teva will make an actual offer to acquire Mylan,” Robert Coury, Mylan’s Executive Chairman wrote in a letter to Teva CEO Erez Vigodman.
The letter, dated June 1, was published in an SEC filing in which Coury lambasted the Israel-based Generics Giant for “making noncommittal, unclear, inaccurate, and non-specific statements to shareholders, analysts and the press regarding its intentions/plans with respect to Mylan.”
Coury had previously questioned Teva’s credibility, following the $40bn (€36bn) bid, but in this latest correspondence he goes further in accusing Teva of “meddling in our affairs,” and deliberately causing “significant unrest and uncertainty” among the Mylan stakeholders.
“The continuation of Mylan’s longstanding strategy is threatened by Teva’s seemingly deliberate and uncertain expression of interest - which can be withdrawn by Teva at any moment - coupled with Teva’s pattern of saying different things to different people about what it might and might not do.”
Last week, Teva acquired $76.3m worth – or 1.35% - of shares in Mylan, a move that was also criticised by Coury.
“We believe Teva’s acquisition of Mylan shares violates US antitrust laws,” he said. “Further, Teva has chosen to remain silent on its intentions with respect to using those shares. We consider Teva’s stakebuilding as a further indication of its intention to meddle with our business, strategy and mission while remaining unclear as to its actual intentions.”
“Stop playing games with our company”
Teva has previously said a proposed merger would “transform the global generics space,” but Mylan has rebuffed such an idea as having too much product overlap and lacking strategy.
Mylan is separately pursuing a $33bn acquisition of OTC and generic-maker Perrigo but Coury also accused Teva of jeopardising such a deal:
“Teva’s actions can only be considered to be a thinly veiled attempt to frustrate our Board’s clearly articulated, consistent and successful strategic direction, including the vote at the EGM on our pending acquisition of Perrigo. It is time for Teva and its Board to stop playing games with our company, its business, mission and strategy and its stakeholders.”
