Omer regev
23/07/2015
Kristen Stewart, Deutsche Bank: “I guess with respect to that Mylan investment right now, you talked about it, what are I guess the terms that you have to vote along with management or from a vote just in terms of monetizing that and maximizing the value? You said it was more of a short-term investment that you didn't have intentions on being a long-term owner of Mylan, but I guess how should we think about that still being a holder in Mylan, a shareholder in someone else's stock.”
1)Miles White, CEO of Abbott: “Well I would say that nothing's changed. We don't have an intention long-term of being shareholders of Mylan. On the other hand, I suppose you could say, well what's long-term? Until we actually have to monetize that investment, I would put it this way. Most people's balance sheets today are getting pretty close to zero, and that said, I think this is a pretty good place to have our cash parked, because I think that Mylan as a company is pursuing a strategy that I would endorse. I have a little bit of insight, and given our continued dealings with our partners at Mylan, and I like the strategy that Mylan is pursuing, and I support it and endorse it as a shareholder. So from that perspective, I think that this is, right now, as long as we are a shareholder, we are going to vote in our interests and Mylan's interest because we are shareholders, and I think what they are pursuing with their Perrigo acquisition is something clearly[indiscernible]. We said we have the right to vote our shares on that particular issue as we like, and that's an independent decision by us. It's not one that the Mylan board or management control. That's our decision. And we made that clear several weeks ago that we support what they are doing there. Obviously, Teva has other desires for Mylan, but my own assessment of that as a shareholder of Mylan is that’s not likely to happen. And I think as Mylan's shareholders or Teva’s shareholders or others review in more detail the Mylan situation in the Netherlands in particular and the rules around foreign acquisitions, whether the Netherlands or Ireland or other places, I think that their investors are gradually figuring out what the degrees of freedom are that any one body particularly has. And in our case, we know that pretty well. The largest shareholder of Mylan, we know it pretty well. So I would say we put our interests where our best interests lie, and that's to support Mylan's current strategy in its current pursuit of Perrigo, and we get to vote that ourselves, so independently, and I think it's important for not only our shareholders but the other Mylan shareholders to know that since we are the largest we get to make that decision.
With regard to certain votes, Mylan would control the vote if they were pursued, so if a company like Teva pursues Mylan, Mylan would control the vote for those shares more than 5% of Mylan. But frankly, we are pretty aligned on that. We haven't disagreed with Mylan on this at all at any point in time. So I think we're not just a passive right along here. There is our interests here, there's Mylan's interest here, we're voting our interest in our own shareholders interest. I think it's a good place for the proceeds from that transaction to be for now, and as I said, we don't intend to be long-term, but in the, while we don't need access to those resources, we certainly want those resources invested in the best possible way for us and our investors and I like what I see there, and I endorse what they are doing.”
2)David Lewis, Morgan Stanley: “And then, Miles, you talked about the Mylan/Perrigo situation. Just a small nuance.Was there a benefit to Abbott shareholders in expressing support for Mylan/Perrigo earlier than perhaps you needed to or are people just making too much of this at this point?”
Miles White, CEO of Abbott: “Well, I think a lot of people are making a little too much of it. But I think first of all, the rules in the Netherlands are a lot more complex than what a lot of investors understood, and certainly about Mylan's domicile there, and therefore, there has been a fair amount of press, more lately, around the so-called structure of ownership in the Netherlands, the stichting and all these other things, and I think if one assesses the clear path to completion of Mylan's interest in Perrigo versus Teva's interest in Mylan, there's a pretty clear difference, and I don't think investors completely appreciate that, because I don't think they know the underlying rules, etc.
And so I think that, I think a lot of investors could have misunderstood or misperceive a choice that doesn't actually exist, in my view. One investor. And so I wanted to make it clear where the largest investor in Mylan stood because I think that will influence other investors to take a closer look at the facts of what is the clear path to in terms of what are thought to be alternatives that I don't think they have. And to the extent that that influences other investors to take a closer look, I think that's in Abbott’s best interest as Mylan's largest shareholder rather than continuing to debate that back-and-forth, an alternative that I don't think truly is. End of comment.”
3)David Roman, Goldman Sachs: “I wanted just a follow-up on the capital deployment side and ask one last financial question. Miles, maybe can just talk a little bit about your use of cash strategy more broadly…”
Miles White, CEO of Abbott: “Wells, yes, and I think it's been pretty clear. It's a good problem to have. We have a lot of cash, have a lot of cash flow, and I think businesses are strong and they generate great cash flow. I mean, we're able to fund our plant and equipment needs. We built a number plants around the world in the last couple of years. We're expanding capacity. We are doing all the things you do to support the ongoing growth of the business from an internal standpoint and yet we generate a lot of cash…
I think investors expect us to deploy cash, and we do, and we will. I mean, that's one of the things I would have to say, leaving our cash in Mylan right now is a good place for it to be…I am not a big fan of doing the buyback shares. I think that's artificial and short-term, although I know there are many activists who might advocate such, I think we can deploy our capital to earn a healthy return, but it doesn't mean you can do it on a rolling quarterly basis. It depends on when the M&A activity is available at the opportunity arises.”
הנתונים, המידע, הדעות והתחזיות המתפרסמות באתר זה מסופקים כשרות לגולשים. אין לראות בהם המלצה או תחליף לשיקול דעתו העצמאי של הקורא, או הצעה או שיווק השקעות או ייעוץ השקעות ב: קרנות נאמנות, תעודות סל, קופות גמל, קרנות פנסיה, קרנות השתלמות או כל נייר ערך אחר או נדל"ן– בין באופן כללי ובין בהתחשב בנתונים ובצרכים המיוחדים של כל קורא – לרכישה ו/או ביצוע השקעות ו/או פעולות או עסקאות כלשהן. במידע עלולות ליפול טעויות ועשויים לחול בו שינויי שוק ושינויים אחרים. כמו כן עלולות להתגלות סטיות בין התחזיות המובאות בסקירה זו לתוצאות בפועל. לכותב עשוי להיות עניין אישי במאמר זה, לרבות החזקה ו/או ביצוע עסקה עבור עצמו ו/או עבור אחרים בניירות ערך ו/או במוצרים פיננסיים אחרים הנזכרים במסמך זה. הכותב עשוי להימצא בניגוד עניינים. פאנדר אינה מתחייבת להודיע לקוראים בדרך כלשהי על שינויים כאמור, מראש או בדיעבד. פאנדר לא תהיה אחראית בכל צורה שהיא לנזק או הפסד שיגרמו משימוש במאמר/ראיון זה, אם יגרמו, ואינה מתחייבת כי שימוש במידע זה עשוי ליצור רווחים בידי המשתמש.
