Teva Announces $3 billion Share Repurchase Program

Published on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 07:38 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

JERUSALEM-( Business Wire )-

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized the Company to repurchase (including through one or more subsidiaries) up to an aggregate of $3 billion of its ordinary shares/ADRs from time to time, based on market conditions. At Teva’s current market capitalization, this amount would represent approximately 8 percent of the outstanding common stock.

"This share repurchase program reflects our confidence in the future outlook of our business and the company's long-term value," said Shlomo Yanai, President and CEO. "Furthermore, our strong cash flow enables us to return cash to our shareholders while preserving the ability to service our debt and continue to drive business growth."

Given the Company's strong cash generation and cash position, the repurchase program will be financed out of free cash flow, without the need to increase leverage.

In the twelve months ended September 2011, Teva has returned more than $2.5 billion to shareholders through dividends, share repurchases and redemptions of convertible bonds.

The repurchase program has no time limits and is expected to be completed over a three-year period. The timing of any repurchases and the exact number of shares to be purchased will depend on a variety of factors, including share price and other market conditions, as well as corporate priorities and regulatory requirements. Repurchases may be commenced or suspended at any time or from time to time and made at prices prevailing in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.

About Teva

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) is a leading global pharmaceutical company, committed to increasing access to high-quality healthcare by developing, producing and marketing affordable generic drugs as well as innovative and specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world's largest generic drug maker, with a global product portfolio of more than 1,300 molecules and a direct presence in about 60 countries. Teva's branded businesses focus on CNS, oncology, pain, respiratory and women's health therapeutic areas as well as biologics. Teva currently employs approximately 47,000 people around the world and reached $16.1 billion in net sales in 2010.

Teva’s Safe Harbor Statement under the U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This release contains forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of management. Such statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to successfully develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products, the introduction of competing generic equivalents, the extent to which we may obtain U.S. market exclusivity for certain of our new generic products and regulatory changes that may prevent us from utilizing exclusivity periods, potential liability for sales of generic products prior to a final resolution of outstanding patent litigation, including that relating to the generic version of Protonix®, the extent to which any manufacturing or quality control problems damage our reputation for high quality production, the effects of competition on sales of our innovative products, especially Copaxone® (including potential generic and oral competition for Copaxone®), the impact of continuing consolidation of our distributors and customers, our ability to identify, consummate and successfully integrate acquisitions (including the acquisition of Cephalon), interruptions in our supply chain or problems with our information technology systems that adversely affect our complex manufacturing processes, intense competition in our specialty pharmaceutical businesses, any failures to comply with the complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations, our exposure to currency fluctuations and restrictions as well as credit risks, the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation, adverse effects of political or economical instability, major hostilities or acts of terrorism on our significant worldwide operations, increased government scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe of our agreements with brand companies, dependence on the effectiveness of our patents and other protections for innovative products, our ability to achieve expected results through our innovative R&D efforts, the difficulty of predicting U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency and other regulatory authority approvals, uncertainties surrounding the legislative and regulatory pathway for the registration and approval of biotechnology-based products, potentially significant impairments of intangible assets and goodwill, potential increases in tax liabilities resulting from challenges to our intercompany arrangements, our potential exposure to product liability claims to the extent not covered by insurance, the termination or expiration of governmental programs or tax benefits, current economic conditions, potential impact on our business of the current global macro-economic uncertainties, any failure to retain key personnel or to attract additional executive and managerial talent, environmental risks and other factors that are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 20-F and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

IR:Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.Elana Holzman, 972 (3) 926-7554orTeva North AmericaKevin C. Mannix, 215-591-8912orPR:Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.Yossi Koren, 972 (3) 926-7687orTeva North AmericaDenise Bradley, 215-591-8974