03.05.2011
Canada's Liberal leader loses seat, steps down
The 63-year-old former Harvard academic and human rights champion earns the dubious distinction of becoming only the second leader of the Liberal Party not to go on to become prime minister.
His party, which government for most of the past century, saw its share of seats in the House of Commons drastically reduced from 77 to just 34 as Prime Minister Stephen Harper was re-elected with his first majority government.
The Liberal decline was in large part due to the rise of the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), which tripled its representation in the Canadian parliament to become the official opposition.
For the first time in almost 150 years of being, the Liberals have now been relegated to Canada's third party.
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Teva buying Cephalon for $6.8 billion
Teva, based in Israel, said Monday it will pay $81.50 per share cash, marking a 5.8 percent premium to Cephalon's closing price on Friday. The price is a 12 percent premium to the since rejected $73-per-share offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., made March 29. The latest offer represents a 39 percent premium to Cephalon's stock prior to Valeant's unsolicited offer.
The Teva and Cephalon boards have each approved their proposed deal, which is expected to close during the third quarter.
Cephalon shares rose $3.09, or 4 percent, to close Monday at $80.11. Teva's U.S. shares rose $1.54, or 3.4 percent, to close at $47.27.
The combined company would have a portfolio of branded drugs with $7 billion in annual sales and more than 30 potential products in late-stage development.
"We are embarking today on a new and exciting future for Teva's branded business, and we are delighted that we will be working together with the Cephalon team," said Shlomo Yanai, president and CEO of Teva, in a statement. "This is transforming for Teva's branded business, as it will help us to deliver on our strategic goal of creating a diversified, multi-faceted company."
The bulk of Teva's revenue comes from generic drugs, but the company does sell several branded drugs, including the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone and the Parkinson's disease drug Azilect. Cephalon's key drugs include the sleep disorder treatment Provigil and the cancer drug Treanda. The company has products aimed at a broad range of conditions including pain, cancer and central nervous system disorders.
"Clearly this acquisition is a game changer for Teva," Yanai said, adding that the deal means "nothing less than the transformation of Teva's branded business."
Cephalon's late-stage development products include potential cancer treatments, a tamper-resistant opioid painkiller, and an asthma treatment. The broad range of the pipeline and current products is a key part of Teva's strategy of growing branded drug revenue to $9 billion by 2015.
"Cephalon's merger with Teva is the result of a rigorous process that included a review of a wide-range of strategic options undertaken by Cephalon's board of directors and management team to maximize value and deliver significant returns to shareholders," said Kevin Buchi, CEO of Cephalon.
On April 5, Frazer, Penn.-based Cephalon rejected Canada-based Valeant's $73-per-share, or $5.7 billion takeover bid, calling the offer too low. Valeant then moved to make the offer directly to shareholders and nominated candidates for the Cephalon's board.
In a statement on Monday, Valeant said it is withdrawing from its pursuit of Cephalon.
Teva said the Cephalon buyout will give the company's earnings a boost within the fourth quarter of closing. Teva did not comment on any changes to management or the work force, but said it expects to realize cost savings of at least $500 million in the third year following the close of the deal.
Citi Investment Research analyst John Boris said the deal makes both strategic and financial sense for Teva.
"Strategically, it lessens dependence on its multiple sclerosis franchise, supports its long-term strategy and financial targets, deepens its late-stage pipeline and expands its global generic footprint," he said, in a note to investors.
Specifically, the deal gives Teva a boost in its pipeline of potential central nervous system, cancer, and pain treatments, he said.
Teva currently has about 40,000 employees worldwide while Cephalon has about 4,000 employees.
Moody's Investors Service reiterated its credit ratings for Teva, saying the deal puts the company's credit under some pressure but makes sense and enhances its specialty drug business. Moody's maintained an investment-grade "A3" rating on Teva and said its outlook for the rating is stable.
The deal also comes just a week after European Union antitrust regulators said they are investigating whether Cephalon and Teva were working together to keep a generic version of Provigil out of the European market. In 2005, the companies settled patent disputes relating to Provigil — which is also known as Modafinil — in the U.K. and the U.S.
As part of that deal, Teva agreed not to sell its generic version of Provigil in the EU as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway before October 2012, the EU's competition watchdog said. The European Commission is now probing whether the deal broke competition rules.
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Why is Obama delivering a commencement address at Miami Dade College?
For at least 4,000 Americans, the most important ceremony of the day probably wont be the royal wedding. The graduates of Miami Dade Colleges North and West campuses have some pomp and circumstance of their own to celebrate: commencement, complete with inspiring words from President Obama.
The president will address the graduates and their guests at the James L. Knight International Center in downtown Miami on Friday evening, and he will receive his first honorary associate of science degree, according to a college spokesman.
As a community college and Americas largest institution of higher education, with about 170,000 students Miami Dade is a logical platform for a president who sees expansion of higher education as central to the long-term strength of the economy.
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The venue strikes some as a savvy political choice as well.
As in real estate, choosing sites for presidential speeches is partly a matter of location, location, location, says Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. A state like Florida is hardly unimportant in terms of a president who chooses to run for reelection.
As president, Mr. Obama has given seven commencement addresses so far, and he will give three this season, including Friday nights speech.
On May 18, hell speak at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. (Typically, presidents give a commencement address at one of the service academies.) And hell speak to whichever high school graduating class wins the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, a contest in which the public can watch short videos online and vote for the favorite.
Among Obamas audience Friday night are likely to be a lot of supporters. Miami Dades student body is about 60 percent Hispanic and 20 percent African-American, two groups that are currently much more likely to vote for Obama in 2012 than for a Republican opponent. A poll by the Pew Research Center in March found that 92 percent of blacks would vote to reelect Obama, along with 66 percent of Hispanics.
Among another group well represented at the college Americans with incomes less than $30,000 a year 54 percent said theyd vote for Obama.
With his approval rating running at only about 47 percent as of early April, Obama welcomes any chance to highlight reasons to be optimistic about the economy and the college-degree holders who can make it hum.
One of Obamas goals is to make the US No. 1 in the world again in the proportion of college graduates by 2020. To help with that, community colleges are tasked with producing 5 million new graduates in that time frame.
Its significant to have the president of the United States speaking at the commencement of Miami Dade because its so representative of the diversity and growing stature of these [community] colleges, says Katherine Boswell, executive director of the Community College Policy Center, a national group that works in partnership with Iowa State University. Miami Dade has always been on the cutting edge.
Community colleges have long had a mission of accessibility and affordability. In March, Miami Dade took that a step further, announcing a scholarship to cover two years of tuition for students graduating from high school this spring with a B average or above in Miami-Dade County.
Typically community colleges grant two-year associates degrees, along with work-related training certificates. But in the past decade, some of them have added select four-year bachelors degrees.
We offer bachelors degrees that get people to work, says Juan Mendieta, Miami Dades director of communications. Whether its in nursing, engineering, or public-safety management, we feel its an expansion of our community college mission, providing the four-year degree to populations that have been traditionally underserved.
This isnt the first contact the administration has had with Miami Dade. Last fall, Obama tapped its president, Eduardo Padrn, to lead the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. The executive order noted that Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in America, yet only 12 percent of Hispanic adults in the US hold bachelors degrees.
Community college leaders are disappointed that, because of political compromises in recent years, Obama had to scale back his goal from $12 billion to $2 billion in funding for a community college initiative over the next four years, says Ms. Boswell. But the White House did host a community college summit in the fall, and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is a community college professor and advocate. Overall, the administration been a strong supporter, Boswell says, and attention from this and any White House is most welcome.
We could always tell when President Clinton mentioned community colleges, because all the community college-[related] websites would get besieged by inquiries, she says. The scuttlebutt was that Clinton was sensitive to polls, and when they would poll the American people, they had very good feelings about community colleges. Since then it has only increased.... Politicians are recognizing that community colleges are representative of the American dream.
For the students who are on the verge of fulfilling their dream of a college diploma in Miami, its a graduation theyll remember for life, says Mr. Mendieta of Miami Dade. Weve had presidents from both sides of the aisle.... Regardless of which president is speaking, they see it as a tremendous honor.
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