Exclusive - Perrigo expected to reject Mylan offer as soon as this week: source

By Nadia Damouni and Olivia Oran (Reuters) - Perrigo Company PLC is set to reject a $29 billion unsolicited takeover offer from generics drugmaker Mylan NV as soon as this week, according to a source familiar with the matter. A rejection leaves Mylan with no immediate alternative to a takeover offer from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd which went public on Tuesday with a $40 billion unsolicited proposal for the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based rival. Mylan has adopted a poison pill defence, a shareholder rights plan that makes a hostile takeover less likely, and has said it is committed to a stand-alone strategy. Teva said that its offer for Mylan is contingent on the company not completing an acquisition of Perrigo or any alternative transaction. Representatives from Perrigo and Mylan were not immediately available for comment. Perrigo shares, which opened at $195.20, fell as low as $192.35 in afternoon trading following the Reuters report. Earlier this month, Mylan offered to buy Perrigo for $205 per share in cash and stock. Perrigo, with a large and attractive portfolio of OTC consumer products, infant formulas and a line of generic topical pharmaceutical medicines, has long been seen as a takeover target. Perrigo confirmed it had received Mylan's offer and said its board would meet to discuss the proposal. A tieup between Perrigo and Mylan would be the latest in a string of recent multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical deals, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Ltd's $11 billion deal for Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd and AbbVie Inc's $21 billion offer for Pharmacyclics Inc. (Reporting by Nadia Damouni and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay and Cynthia Osterman)