According to reports in various news outlets, AstraZeneca (AZN.L) CEO Pascal Soriot is expected to be appointed CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA).
Soriot, 58, was appointed head of Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca in 2012. He is a veterinary surgeon by training, and has held senior positions in other pharmaceuticals companies in the past, among them Aventis in the US (which became Sanofi Aventis) and Roche.
AstraZeneca is traded on the London Stock Exchange at a market cap of $86 million, following a 41% rise in its share price since Soriot became CEO, and 23% for 2017 to date.
Teva, by contrast, has seen a 12.6% decline in its share price so far this year. The company is currently being run by Yitzhak Peterburg, who was its chairman. Recruitment of a CEO with experience in the pharmaceuticals industry is likely to be welcomed by the stock market, but it will carry a price, and a CEO of this caliber will presumably command a higher salary that Teva CEOs have been paid up to now.
Teva said in response, "As the company's chairman, Dr. Sol Barer has said in the past, our highest priority is the global search process to find a candidate of world standing with broad and deep experience in the pharmaceuticals industry to serve as permanent CEO of the company. We do not respond to market rumors."
Teva's share price is up nearly 6% today on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 13, 2017
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