Teva Pharmaceutical Gets $3 Billion Credit Line to Replace Debt

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), the world’s largest maker of generic drugs, got a $3 billion revolving credit line to replace a smaller loan.

Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Bank Plc arranged the five-year revolver replacing a $2.5 billion financing pact, the Petach Tikva, Israel-based company said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire.

“We took another step on our recently announced new strategy and secured ample liquidity to support Teva’s future growth,” Eyal Desheh, Teva’s chief financial officer, said in the statement.

Teva, which generated $18.3 billion of revenue last year, will focus on developing drugs for respiratory and central nervous system illnesses as it seeks to replace medicines set to lose patent protection in the next three years, the company told investors in a Dec. 11 briefing.

Teva last week dropped the most in 16 months in New York on concern the drugmaker’s strategy under new Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Levin won’t be enough to sustain profit growth. The company’s American depositary receipts rose 27 cents to $38.66 at 12:45 p.m. in New York.

Earlier this month, the company sold $2 billion of dollar- denominated bonds for general corporate purposes.

Money under a revolving credit line can be borrowed again once it’s repaid.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Idzelis in New York at cidzelis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan at fkhan33@bloomberg.net