Teva Makes $40 Billion Cash-and-Stock Bid for Mylan

In what is shaping up to be the global pharmaceutical industry's latest hostile takeover struggle, the world's largest generic drugmaker, Israel-based Teva, has made a bid for Mylan.

The cash-and-stock offer of $82 per share, totaling $40.1 billion and representing a premium of 21% over the company's closing price on April 20, comes on the heels of an offer by Mylan - based in the Netherlands since March - to buy generic drug and ingredients maker Perrigo for almost $29 billion.

Teva's offer, which appears to confirm speculation that Mylan's grab for Perrigo was part of a plan to move out of the Israeli firm's potential clutches, is contingent on Mylan not completing the proposed deal.

The takeover of Mylan by Teva would be the biggest pharmaceutical industry deal so far this year. Already, in the first three months of the year, the value of healthcare deals soared to more than $95 billion, a 70% rise against the same period of 2014, according to Thomson Reuters' calculation.

Combining the two companies would create a generics giant with annual sales of around $30 billion and market capitalization of round $100 billion, and reports say it would be eyed critically by competition authorities.

Only days before the Teva announcement, Mylan issued a press release underscoring that it is "full committed" to its standalone strategy and the proposal to acquire Perrigo.

"We have studied the potential combination of Mylan and Teva for some time and we believe it is clear that such a combination is without sound industrial logic or cultural fit," executive chairman Robert J. Coury said in the release.

Coury said Mylan also believes there would be "significant overlap in the companies' businesses," so that "it is unlikely that any such combination could obtain anti-trust regulatory clearances."

"Of course," he added, "should any party make an actual offer to acquire Mylan, the board would carefully consider it."