Teva Could Close 27 Plants as it Pursues Acquisitions

The new CEO of Teva Pharmaceuticals - the world's largest generic drugmaker - revealed Teva's plan to get its "house in order" while pursuing additional investments, during a recent Q1 Earnings call.Erez Vigodman, hired as Teva's President and CEO in February, stated that the drugmaker's plan to close or divest 11 plants is already underway and an additional 16 plants are currently under evaluation. Teva has launched an operational excellence plan in order to increase competitiveness of existing plants, and will be terminating markets and products that are not profitable.

Teva also plans, in the course of the next two years, to start moving into emerging markets in order to expand its footprint in key markets. 

Vigodman discussed the potential for larger, targeted transactions and Teva's willingness to engage in such transactions provided they meet a clear criteria.

According to Vigodman, Teva will "direct all the resources which are required in order to create a leading position in complex generics"  and the drugmaker  is also "fully aware" of the opportunities in the field of biosimilars and in a good position to tap such opportunities.

Vigodman assured that Teva is "fully committed and on track" to deliver $1 billion reduction in gross expenses by the end of the year; $2 billion reduction in gross expenses by 2017, from which $500 million fall into net profit by 2017. 

See the full Q1 2014 Results - Earnings Call transcript

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