"The Group continues to believe that its preliminary proposal to combine Actavis and Pliva offers terrific value for investors, employees, customers and the local community in Croatia."
"Actavis"s primary objective is to discuss a combination of the two businesses in a friendly manner. The Group has sought to engage in serious discussions with Mr. Covic, Pliva"s CEO, since the middle of 2005. Despite numerous conversions with Mr. Covic since then, no reasonable progress was made. So a letter was sent by Robert Wessman, President and CEO of Actavis, to the Pliva board on 13 March outlining Actavis"s proposal. Well informed media reports concerning Actavis"s approach that appear to have been leaked to the Croatian media prompted the Group"s decision to issue a press release on 17 March in accordance with Icelandic Stock Exchange regulations," today's press release read.
The Icelandic group sticks to the offer of 570 kuna per share.
"The preliminary proposal equates to 10x 2006 EBITDA and 23.4x 2006 Net Income based on analyst forecasts. This proposal is in line with or above recent multiples paid in precedent transactions and reflects Pliva's historical performance and current outlook," the Icelandic company said, among other things, in the lengthy press release.