Perrigo

Perrigo Company plc is an American Irish-registered manufacturer of private label over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, and while 70% of Perrigo's net sales are from the U.S. healthcare system, Perrigo is legally headquartered in Ireland for tax purposes, which accounts for 0.60% of net sales.[2][3] In 2013, Perrigo completed the sixth-largest US corporate tax inversion in history when it reregistered its tax status to Ireland to avoid U.S. corporate taxes. Perrigo maintains its corporate headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, within Michigan State University's Grand Rapids Innovation Park.[4]

Perrigo engages in the acquisition (for repricing), manufacture, and sale of consumer healthcare products, generic prescription drugs, and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), primarily in the United States, from its base in Ireland. On 21 December 2018, Perrigo suffered its biggest one-day share price fall in its history after the Irish Revenue Commissioners issued a tax claim against Perrigo that equated to half of its market value.[5][6]

History

L. Perrigo Company was founded in 1887 in Allegan, Michigan, by Luther and Charles Perrigo, who ran a general store.[7]

In 1991 Perrigo had an initial public offering on Nasdaq.[8][9]

In March 2005 the firm acquired Agis Industries Limited (traded as AGIS at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange), an Israel-based generic pharmaceuticals company in an $850 million transaction. Agis was founded in 1983 by Mori Arkin, who developed his father's small drug import business into a multinational generic pharmaceutical company. As a result of the acquisition, Arkin owned 9% of Perrigo, and was appointed as Vice Chairman of the company.[10]

In July 2013, Perrigo announced that it would execute a corporate tax inversion to Ireland in order to avoid U.S. corporate taxes, via an $8.6 billion acquisition of Irish-based Elan Corporation.[11] As of, Perrigo is the sixth-largest U.S. tax inversion in history.[12][13][14] Over 70% of Perrigo's sales, and an even greater percentage of Perrigo profits, are from the U.S. healthcare system.[15][2]

In April 2015, Perrigo received an unsolicited buy-out offer from Mylan of $29 billion, which was ultimately rejected by management and shareholders.[16] In May 2016, Perrigo investors sued the company over statements made during the Mylan bid,[17] which were said to have persuaded shareholders to vote against the deal.[18][19] In the months prior to this suit, the company's chairman and CEO, Joseph Papa, who has been credited with "fending off" Mylan's bid, left to take the CEO role at Valeant.[20][21] Upon Papa's departure, John Hendrickson, who was at the time the company's president, took on the additional roles of chairman and CEO.[22][23] Hendrickson was succeeded by Uwe Roehrhoff in January, 2018.[24] Murray S. Kessler succeeded Roehroff already in October of that same year. As of July 2023, Patrick Lockwood-Taylor is the current President and CEO.[25]

On 20 December 2018, the Financial Times reported that the Irish Revenue Commissioners levied a €1.64 billion (not including penalties and interest) Irish tax claim on Perrigo for unpaid capital gains tax (CGT) from the 2013 sale of Tysabri to Biogen by Elan, which happened months before Perrigo's acquisition of Elan.[26] The claim is the second largest ever issued by the Revenue Commissioners in Irish history, after Apple's €13 billion Irish tax fine.[26] On 21 December 2018, the Irish Times reported that Revenue claimed Perrigo owed CGT at a rate of 33% as an "asset sale", however Perrigo claimed that the sale was part of Elan's normal "trading income", and was subject to the lower 12.5% Irish corporate tax rate, which Perrigo was able to reduce to 0% using Ireland's multinational tax BEPS tools.[27]

In June 2022, Perrigo moved its corporate headquarters from Allegan to downtown Grand Rapids, about 40 miles north, within Michigan State University's Grand Rapids Innovation Park.[4] The company still maintains offices and production at the Allegan campus.

In 2023, its subsidiary, HRA Pharma, received approval from the FDA to sell an over the counter women’s contraception drug called Opill.[28]

Segments

The company operates in three segments; Consumer Self-care Americas, Rx Pharmaceuticals, and Consumer Self-Care International. The Consumer Self-care Americas segment produces over-the-counter pharmaceutical and nutritional products in the United States and the United Kingdom. This segment offers analgesic, cough/cold/allergy/sinus, gastrointestinal, smoking cessation, first aid, antacids, hemorrhoidal remedies, motion sickness, sleep aid products, feminine hygiene products, vitamin, nutritional supplement products, and male pattern baldness remedies which are manufactured in Israel.

The Rx Pharmaceuticals segment produces generic prescription drugs in the United States. This segment provides creams, ointments, lotions, gels, and solutions, as well as nasal sprays, foams, and transdermal devices. Believing that Rx business has the potential to realize greater value outside of Perrigo, board okays separation of prescription pharma business on 9 August 2018.[58]

The Consumer Self-Care International (CSCI) segment develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes well-known European self-care brands in the natural health and vitamins, cough, cold and allergy, oral care, smoking cessation, personal care and derma-therapeutics and lifestyle categories.

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