Alere gets on court's fast track in suit over Abbott buyout
Alere Inc. was promised quick treatment by a Delaware judge set to hear its complaint that Libertyville Township-based Abbott Laboratories is stalling to avoid going through a $5.8 billion purchase of the medical diagnostic company.
Delaware Chancery Court Judge Sam Glasscock said at a hearing Friday that he would put the lawsuit on the court's fast track. Alere sought a trial later this month, but the judge didn't rule on that request.
Glasscock ordered both sides to try and resolve their dispute in mediation first.
Alere accused Abbott in the lawsuit of trying to back out of the deal by dragging its heels with regulators and threatening to make its life a "living hell" by burying the company in paperwork.
Abbott is seeking to "run out the clock on the merger," said Bruce Birenboim, one of Alere's lawyers. The deadline to close the deal is April 30, 2017.
Abbott had countered with accusations that Alere is withholding information about federal probes and coaching witnesses to lie about its Indian operations. The company is following established procedures for securing regulatory blessing of the deal and Alere has slowed the process by delaying release of its financial results, James Hurst, one of the company's lawyers, told Glasscock Friday.
The deal, signed Jan. 30, ran into trouble after Alere delayed filing documents about its 2015 financial performance with securities regulators. The company has since disclosed two U.S. probes into some of its businesses overseas and its billing practices in the U.S.
Alere contends Abbott officials got cold feet about the takeover after agreeing to buy medical-device maker St. Jude Medical Inc. for $25 billion in April. Closing both deals will stretch Abbott's financial limits, forcing the health care company to issue more equity and triple "its debt load, which will likely lower its credit rating," Alere said in its complaint made public Wednesday in Delaware Chancery Court.
"Abbott will have no trouble" winning antitrust approval by the deadline, Hurst said.