Perrigo, Allegan County’s largest em
ployer, plans to eliminate 800 jobs worldwide and buy back $2 billion of shares to thwart a hostile takeover bid by Mylan NV.
Officials said the number of layoffs would be very small in West Michigan, but the work force reduction would amount to about 6 percent globally.
The company, with plants in Allegan and Holland, manufactures over-the-counter and generic drugs, plans to buy back about $500 million in shares in the fourth quarter. Perrigo employs about 4,000 workers in West Michigan.
CEO Joseph Papa said Perrigo has turned down Mylan’s $27.1 billion offer to buy the company. Mylan is offering $75 in cash and 2.3 Mylan shares for each Perrigo share.
Papa said in a statement, “It is fundamentally irrational to believe Mylan can run this business better or more profitably than our team.”
Perrigo not long ago set up headquarters in Ireland to save money on corporate taxes.
The company plans to consolidate some operations in Ireland, and will begin a sale process for its U.S. vitamins, minerals and supplements business.
The rest of the share buyback program will be completed over the next 24 to 36 months, the company said.
One Allegan County resident, Sherry Fifelski Olsen, was not impressed, posting on Facebook, “Perrigo is cutting jobs in order to afford to buy back stocks in order to hold onto control of the company, in turn asking share holders (many of which are employees) to be loyal to the company by not selling to Mylan,”
Perrigo also announced the promotion of John Hendrickson, formerly the Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain, to president.
Gov. Rick Snyder posted a statement on Facebook Tuesday, saying a “takeover of Perrigo could to devastating results for Allegan, become a serious blow to Southwest Michigan and a significant setback for the State.”
