Corporate catfight continues
The corporate catfight between Teva Pharmaceuticals and Southpointe-based Mylan escalated Monday when Teva CEO Erez Vigodman sent a pointed letter to Mylan’s chief Robert Coury, arguing if Teva took over Mylan it would be good for shareholders of both companies. Mylan has been trying to fight off the takeover bid from Teva, an Israeli-based company, even as it tries to take over the Irish drug company Perrigo, which, a few years ago, took over another Irish drug company called Elan Corp.
We must confess to some skepticism about whether these mergers and consolidations are good in the long run for either shareholders or consumers, and Mylan has tried to argue, if Teva were to acquire Mylan, it wouldn’t pass muster with U.S. authorities who enforce antitrust laws.
However, Vigodman did come back with a fairly clever riposte. Citing last summer’s “inversion,” where Mylan changed its legal address from the United States to the Netherlands in order to get a more favorable tax rate, Vigodman said in his letter, “In the meantime, 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.”
Touché.