Abbott to sell third of Mylan stake

Shares of US generic drugmaker Mylan (Nasdaq: MYL) were down 5.4% on Monday after Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) announced that it will undergo a public offering of 35,000,000 ordinary shares.

Abbott also has granted the underwriters an option to purchase an additional 5,250,000 ordinary shares. Mylan will not sell any ordinary shares in the offering and will not receive any of the proceeds from the offering. The 35,000,000 ordinary shares being sold (or 40,250,000 ordinary shares if the underwriters' option is exercised) represent 31.8% (or 36.6% if the option is exercised) of the 110,000,000 ordinary shares currently owned by Abbott.

The move comes weeks after the European Commission cleared the $5.3 billion acquisition of Abbott Laboratories’ non-US developed markets specialty and branded generics business by Mylan.