 "Mylan buys Swedish firm Meda for $7.2 bn")
Mylan on February 10, 2016 made an offer to buy Swedish pharmaceutical firm Meda for about $ 7.2 billion. In response, Meda’s Board of Directors has recommended its shareholders to accept Mylan’s public cash-and-stock offer.
The deal will strengthen Mylan’s position as a diversified global pharmaceutical leader with an expansive and growing portfolio of specialty, generic and over-the-counter (OTC) products and a strong, complementary therapeutic presence. The combined company will have a balanced global footprint with significant scale in key geographic markets, particularly the US and Europe.
The acquisition of Meda also provides Mylan with entry into a number of new and attractive emerging markets, including China, Southeast Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Mexico, complemented by Mylan's presence in India, Brazil and Africa. Mylan and Meda have a highly complementary therapeutic presence, which will create a leading global player in respiratory / allergy, and achieve critical mass in dermatology and pain, offering greater opportunities for growth in these categories.
“This transaction builds on everything we have put in place around the world, including our recent acquisition of the Abbott non-US developed markets specialty and branded generics business. Meda brings us greater scale, breadth and diversity across products, geographies and sales channels, and together we will have an even stronger global commercial infrastructure. We have been very clear about our commitment to enter the OTC space and continue our expansion in emerging markets and, with this transaction, we will have an approximately $1 billion OTC business at close and gain entry into new growth markets such as China, Southeast Asia, Russia and the Middle East,” commented Heather Bresch, CEO, Mylan.
Dr Jorg-Thomas Dierks, CEO, Meda, added, “The two businesses are highly complementary, and the combined business will benefit from strong therapeutic presence in respiratory/allergy, dermatology and pain and inflammation, as well as enhancing our mass in Europe and US presence.”
