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Actavis responds to Barr Pharmaceuticals’ increased offer for PLIVA


WEBWIRE

Reykjavik, Iceland, 18 September 2006 - Actavis Group (ICEX: ACT), the international generic pharmaceuticals company, has noted the increased offer published on September 11th, to acquire PLIVA (LSE: PLVD; ZSE: PLVA-R-A), announced by Barr Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BRL).

The Board of Actavis believes that its current offer of HRK 795 per share represents a full and fair price for PLIVA’s shares including synergies expected to be realized through the combination with Actavis. On this basis, Actavis has no plans to increase its offer for PLIVA at this stage. Accordingly, Actavis will take the necessary steps to ask the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency to release the guarantee that the Company has provided.

Actavis confirms that, as previously notified, it controls approximately 20.8% of the outstanding shares of PLIVA through direct ownership and option agreements. Actavis will continue to follow closely the progress of the bidding for PLIVA, and reserves the right to apply to re-enter the process. In the meantime, Actavis will continue to build upon its strong underlying business and pursue other opportunities to deliver enhanced returns to shareholders.


Commenting, Robert Wessman, President and CEO of Actavis said:

“While we continue to believe that the combination of our two businesses would create one of the most exciting companies in our industry and a solid platform from which to achieve substantial future growth, we will not compromise our growth plans by overpaying for acquisitions despite very strong synergies”

About Actavis Group
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Actavis is one of the world’s leading generic pharmaceutical companies specializing in the development, manufacture and sale of generic pharmaceuticals. Based in Iceland, the company has operations in over 30 countries, with over 10,000 employees. The company’s market capitalization is approximately EUR2.3bn (US$3 billion) and it is listed on the Iceland Stock Exchange. Actavis expects 2006 sales to total EUR1.4bn, with approximately one-third of these sales coming from the United States, the company’s single largest market.

More information about Actavis can be found at www.actavis.com.



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