PLIVA becomes subject of more takeover bids

Croatian pharmaceuticals company PLIVA has received a new takeover offer from Actavis, the Icelandic drugs manufacturer.

Earlier this week, PLIVA’s board endorsed an offer from Barr Pharmaceuticals for approximately $2.2 billion (1.2 billion pounds) in cash, although Actavis yesterday entered the bidding with $2.3 billion offer.

Actavis’ chief executive officer, Robert Wessman, said the “synergies” that could be created by merging the two companies were “greater than we originally anticipated”, referring to a previous unsuccessful offer for PLIVA. He added that the new offer represents “superior value” for PLIVA shareholders.

Barr’s response to the Actavis proposal has been to offer 743 Croation kuna (71.11 pounds) per PLIVA share, an increase of eight kuna on Actavis’ offer.

Bruce L Downey, Barr’s chairman and chief executive officer, commented: “As we stated when our initial offer was announced, we believe that Barr represents the best potential suitor for PLIVA and provides significant value to PLIVA’s shareholders.”

“We also believe that our offer is strengthened by the opportunity created by combining Barr’s expertise in the US regulatory, legal and marketing environments with PLIVA’s biogeneric capabilities, resulting in the development of biogeneric products for European and US markets,” he added.

For Barr’s offer to be successful, 50 per cent of PLIVA shareholders would have to accept.

On Wednesday, Actavis announced it had acquired nine per cent of PLIVA’s outstanding shares, resulting in the total ownership of 9.7 per cent of PLIVA’s outstanding stock. The addition of call option agreements effectively brings Actavis’ holding in PLIVA’s outstanding shares to just over a fifth.

Actavis is one of the world’s five largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturers. Both PLIVA and Barr also manufacture generic products.

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