Meda receives new bid from Mylan at SEK 145 a share
Meda has been approached anew by Mylan through an all-stock offer valued at SEK 145 a share, the Financial Times reported.
The offer was made in the last few days, following on the SEK 130-a-share offer made earlier this month.
The new bid values Meda at USD 9bn.
Trading in the Meda stock halted following a report that Mylan, the Pennsylvia, US-based entity, had made the new bid for the Swedish pharmaceutical company, the Dagens Industri reported. Mylan was reported to have already planned the bid on April 4, which Meda rejected. At the time, Paula Treutiger, head of investors relations, said the board had rejected the bid because it has strong faith in Meda as an independent company. The Meda stock was trading slightly below SEK 117 on 25 April before a rush to SEK 128.50 set off the trading halt.
Bert-Ake Eriksson, the Meda chairman, on a mandate from majority-stake owner Stena group, did not want to comment on the trading halt made today, Friday. “I know the reason for the trading halt, but I don’t want to comment now,” he told the Swedish-language newspaper.
Morgan Stanley’s Special Situations Group said in a recent weekly analysis that Meda probably was for sale at the right price, the newspaper reported, citing Direkt news agency. The fact that Meda confirmed the reports about Mylan’s first approach indicated as much, said the investment bank.
According to Morgan Stanley, a race within the specialty pharma industry and tax-inversion reasons are behind Mylan’s interest in Meda.
Market chatter says that Mylan is not the only player interested in Meda. Canadian pharmaceutical company Valeant could have approached the Swedish pharma company, Dagens Industri reported, citing no source. The fact that Meda’s former CEO Anders Lonner will take a place on the Valeant board could ease a deal. On Wednesday, Lonner was proposed to by the Valeant board. It may be in Lonner’s interest that Meda gets bought at a bid of SEK 145 a share; it would mean that Lonner’s holdings in Meda would be worth SEK 696m (USD 105.9m), which is up SEK 134m from Thursday’s valuation.
The Stena group has seen its holdings in Meda increase in value thanks to Mylan’s interest. A SEK 145-a-share bid would value Stena’s holdings around SEK 10bn, compared with SEK 8bn on 24 April.
Source Dagens Industri, Financial Times