Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Failed hostile play: Mylan's $26B tender offer for Perrigo drew only 40% of shares, short of the 50% threshold, after Perrigo spent roughly $100M defending itself over a seven-month standoff.
Outcome grade pending — assessed 5 years post-close.
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CNBC reported the rejection as a definitive end to a saga that had reshaped specialty-pharma M&A expectations and left Mylan strategically isolated.
Reuters' timeline emphasized that proxy advisors had urged Mylan shareholders to vote against the bid, and that the prolonged battle distracted both companies…
C&EN framed the failed bid as Perrigo's vindication of its standalone strategy and a rare successful defense against a fully launched hostile tender in pharma.
Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.
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Mylan launched a $26B hostile tender offer for Perrigo (announced April 2015, tender period closed November 13, 2015). Only 40% of Perrigo shares tendered, below the 50% threshold required, causing the bid to fail. Counted as a publicly announced terminated mega-deal. Perrigo spent ~$100M on takeover defense.
Perrigo is the leading store-brand OTC manufacturer in the U.S., supplying private-label versions of analgesics, cough/cold, allergy, smoking cessation, and infant formula to retailers including Walmart, Target, CVS, and Walgreens. The OTC consumer health category is dominated by Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, and GSK on the branded side, with Perrigo holding the store-brand niche.
Mylan's $26B hostile tender for Perrigo — launched April 8, 2015 and closed November 13, 2015 with only 40% of shares tendered against a 50% minimum — was simultaneously a strategic move into store-brand OTC and a defensive maneuver against Teva's pursuit of Mylan. Had it closed, Mylan would have layered Perrigo's leading U.S. store-brand OTC franchise (private-label competitors to Tylenol, Claritin, Prilosec OTC, Mucinex) onto its prescription generics platform — competing against branded incumbents Bayer (Aspirin, Aleve), J&J (Tylenol, Motrin), GSK (Sensodyne, Centrum, Panadol), and Reckitt (Mucinex). The bid failed primarily because Mylan's stock collapsed ~37% after Teva abandoned its Mylan pursuit for Allergan's generics, deflating the stock-heavy offer to a 3% premium at one point — Perrigo CEO Joseph Papa famously said the offer was 'not even in the right zip code'. Influential proxy advisors recommended Mylan's own shareholders vote against. Perrigo spent ~$100M on takeover defense; the failure marked an inflection — Perrigo subsequently underperformed and CEO Papa departed in 2016.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mylan N.V. / Perrigo Company plc (this deal) | 2015 | $26.0B | — |
| Mylan N.V. / Meda AB | 2016 | $9.9B | 53 |
| Mylan N.V. / Upjohn Inc. (Pfizer) | 2019 | $12.0B | 44 |
| Mylan N.V. / Renaissance Acquisition Holdings, LLC (topicals business) | 2016 | $1.0B | 40 |
| Mylan N.V. / Novartis AG (TOBI franchise) | 2018 | $463M | 38 |
| Watson Pharmaceuticals (Actavis Inc.) / Actavis plc | 2012 | $5.9B | 97 |
| Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. / PRA International (Genstar Capital) | 2013 | $1.3B | 91 |
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