August 24, 2011 |

PharMerica shoots down Omnicare’s $716 million acquisition bid

Pharmacy services provider PharMerica Corporation publicly confirmed Tuesday that it had received and rejected an “unsolicited” acquisition bid from Omnicare, which was first made on July 19 for the purchase of all PharMerica common stock at $15 per share in cash.

Omnicare, which went public with its proposal also on Tuesday, valued the transaction at $716 million, which includes PharMerica’s net debt.

“It is unfortunate that Omnicare has chosen to go public with a highly conditional and risky proposal that undervalues PharMerica and its future prospects,” PharMerica CEO Gregory S. Weishar said in a statement. The company’s board of directors disliked the proposal, saying it would be subject to “significant regulatory uncertainty” and antitrust issues when combining the #1 and #2 players in institutional pharmacy.

Omnicare responded with another statement Tuesday, calling its proposal a “compelling value proposition” for PharMerica’s stockholders. “We disagree with PharMerica’s regulatory analysis,” the statement read, “and disagree that a $15 per share cash proposal, not conditioned on financing, is ‘highly conditional and risky.’

“We remain firmly committed to pursuing this transaction and continue to be very confident in our ability to consummate a transaction expeditiously.”

Shares of PharMerica jumped 27% Tuesday after the takeover offer went public.

Omnicare: PharMerica CEO first sought ‘strategic alternatives’

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