Dive Brief:
- On Thursday, Teva announced that it had completed the purchase of 4.61% of Mylan's shares.
- Now that Teva has hit the threshold, a formal offer may be forthcoming. Teva's 4.61% stake would allow the company to initiate official proceedings in front of the Dutch Enterprise Chamber if Mylan continues to resist.
- It is important for the offer to come ahead of a Mylan-Perrigo shareholder vote in order to provide a binding alternative to the Mylan-Perrigo offer.
Dive Insight:
Teva has claimed that by increasing its ownership of Mylan to 4.6%, it is not skirting antitrust laws, because Mylan is effectively a Dutch company. However, even if antitrust issues don't slow down the hostile takeover process, Teva still will have to deal with a couple of major challenges, including removing Mylan's board of directors and removing the poison pill clause.
If Teva succeeds in its quest to buy Mylan, Teva would end up controlling roughly 25% of the generics industry.