$40B deal: Teva offers to buy Mylan

Generic drug giant Teva is offering to buy rival Mylan for $40.1 billion in cash and stock in what would be the industry's largest merger this year.

Israeli-based Teva said it will pay $82 a share in the unsolicited bid. The company said that represents a 48.3% premium compared to Mylan's stock price on March 10, the last trading before speculation of a link-up between the two companies.

Shares of both TEVA and MYL are cruising higher on the news.

Teva said its offer is "a more attractive alternative" than Mylan's proposed purchase of Perrigo on April 8.

Last week, Mylan said a merger with Teva would be unlikely to win antitrust approval because there would be "significant overlap in the company's businesses."

The Pennsylvania-based company added that it's "fully committed to its standalone strategy," adding that the deal "is without sound industrial logic or cultural fit."

But Teva is undeterred. It said it's "confident that it would be able to structure a transaction that would not contain material impediments to closing" and that it can make any necessary divestitures to clear regulatory hurdles. It said it expects the transaction can be completed by year-end.

Teva said the combined company wouldI would enhance the firms' geographic reach and product portfolios, increase efficiencies and allow them to offer "ifcomplex technologies and more durable and sustainable products."

"As one company, we would have the infrastructure and capabilities to faster pursue a differentiated business model, fully integrating specialty and generic drugs with products, devices, services and technologies to meet the evolving needs of patients and customers," said Teva CEO Erez Vigodman.