July 18, 2008
On July 18, 2008, it was announced that Willkie client Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. will purchase Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $8.9 billion, including $1.5 billion of Barr debt. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Barr's shareholders will receive $39.90 in cash and 0.6272 Teva ADRs, representing an indicated combined consideration of $66.50 per Barr share based on the unaffected Nasdaq closing price of Teva ADRs on July 16, 2008. Teva, based in Israel, is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world and is the leading generic pharmaceutical company. Willkie has represented Teva in its acquisitions of CoGenesys Inc. and Bentley Pharmaceuticals Inc. earlier this year as well as in numerous previous transactions, including its previous multi-billion dollar acquisitions of Ivax Corporation and Sicor Inc. Barr is a global specialty pharmaceutical company and the world's fourth largest generic drug company. The transaction was handled by partners Peter Jakes, Jeffrey Hochman, David Rubinsky, Christopher Peters, William Rooney, Jochen Winter, Jacques-Phillippe Gunther and David Tayar; national partner Stefan Joergens; special counsels David Park and Jonathan Konoff; and associates Mark Getachew, Manuel Miranda, Daniel Backer, Jordan Messinger, Katie Calabrese, Rebecca Gutner, Curtis Hogan, James Crowe and Jeff Korn.