Pliva will keep its name and Zagreb will become the centre of business operations for the US company in Europe, Covic said.
The news conference was held after Pliva's Supervisory Board on Monday evening recommended to its shareholders to accept the US company's offer to purchase Pliva's entire issued capital at a price of 705 kuna per share, payable in cash in kuna.
The 2.2 billion dollars that Barr is expected to pay for Pliva's shares is so far the biggest business transaction in Croatia and the biggest single US transaction in this part of Europe, Covic said.
The Pliva CEO would not disclose other bidders or their offers, stating only that five bidders had been short-listed.
Apart from Barr's offer, the only other bid that was made public was one by Iceland's Actavis, which had offered 630 kuna per share.
The merger of Pliva and Barr will result in one of the leading global pharmaceutical companies with annual revenue of some 2.5 billion dollars, Covic said.
The two companies are mutually complementary and their products and ones that are being developed are not overlapping significantly, Covic said, adding that Barr was interested in research and development and stronger production in Europe, which would lead to higher employment in Pliva's plants in Croatia, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Barr Pharmaceuticals has some 2,000 employees. Its main markets are the United States and Canada and its shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
According to annual data, on 31 March 2006 the company's revenues amounted to USD1.24 billion.