Valeant Pharmaceuticals named its own slate of directors for Cephalon as part of its hostile takeover bid.

Cephalon Inc., based in Frazer, Pa., rejected an unsolicited, $5.7 billion offer from Canada’s Valeant on Tuesday. Valeant made its offer public last week and said it would press to install its own directors to Cephalon’s board.

Valeant’s nominees for the Cephalon board are former Quintiles president Santo J. Costa, former CalPERS interim CEO Richard H. Koppes, former Coventry Health Care CEO Lawrence N. Kugelman, Media AB Group President and CEO Anders Lonner, former Harvard business school dean John H. McArthur, and former Duke University business school dean Blair H. Sheppard.

“We stand ready to quickly commence and close our transaction as proposed, unless Cephalon stockholders do not support our offer, in which case we will focus our attention on other opportunities to invest our capital,” Valeant Chairman and CEO J. Michael Pearson said.

Cephalon Inc. has called Valeant’s offer, which equates to $73 a share, inadequate.

Valeant said it will make its definitive consent solicitation statement available to Cephalon shareholders for their written consent following regulatory approval.

Date: April 6, 2011
Source: Associated Press