By Tova Cohen and Ari Rabinovitch
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is streamlining its company structure and making sweeping changes to senior management as part of an overhaul it hopes will please investors worried about the company's massive debt.
Shares in the world's largest generic drugmaker, which have been in a year-long freefall due to narrowing profit margins in generics and a series of pricey acquisitions, jumped 5.5 percent to $14.46 in early New York trade on Monday following the announcement.
Teva said it was combining its generics and specialty medicine groups into one commercial business and was doing the same for its research and development activities. Three senior officers will be stepping down as well.
"Our new company structure will enable stronger alignment and integration between R&D, operations and the commercial regions, allowing us to become a more agile, lean and profitable company," said Chief Executive Kare Schultz, who joined the company at the start of November.
Teva is saddled with nearly $35 billion in debt since its $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan's generic drug business Actavis last year. That deal has not paid off and investors have been pushing for clarity regarding the future.
"Teva is taking decisive and immediate action to address external pressures and internal inefficiencies," Schultz said, adding the company was working on a detailed restructuring plan to be unveiled in mid-December.
Hours earlier the Israeli company made a more vague promise for changes in a letter to the Israeli parliament, following media reports the company was set to cut thousands of jobs.
Parliament's State Control Committee had called an emergency meeting to discuss reports that Teva was planning to cut up to a quarter of its 6,860-strong workforce in Israel, and a few thousand more staff in the United States.
Teva, which has already been selling off assets to help meet its debt payments, said in the letter it needed "deep, meaningful steps around the world," but did not give details.
In its later statement, Teva said Chief Scientific Officer Michael Hayden, head of global specialty medicines Rob Koremans and Dipankar Bhattacharjee, head of the global generic medicines group, would retire at the end of the year.
The company also appointed Michael McClellan as permanent chief financial officer, after he held the role on an interim basis since July, and made five other executive changes at the top of the company.
(Editing by Mark Potter)
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