Pharmaceutical Business review

Teva to acquire Bentley Pharmaceuticals

Teva will acquire Bentley, which at closing will consist solely of the generic pharmaceutical operations, for an aggregate cash purchase price of approximately $360 million. Shareholders of Bentley will receive approximately $15.02 per share in cash in the acquisition and also will receive shares of Cpex Pharmaceuticals, pursuant to the spin-off, which will occur before the acquisition.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2008. Teva will fund the acquisition from its internal resources. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction. Closing is subject to certain conditions, including completion of the proposed spin-off of Bentley’s drug delivery business, antitrust approvals, the approval of Bentley’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions. Teva expects that the acquisition of Bentley’s generic pharmaceutical operations will become accretive within 12 months of closing.

Shlomo Yanai, president and CEO of Teva, said: “This is an important acquisition for Teva, as the combination of Teva Spain and Bentley will provide us with a platform to capture a leading position in the fast-growing Spanish generic pharmaceutical market.”