Jul 8, 2015 4 min read

Already embroiled in a three-way takeover fight, Mylan B.V. was accused of not publicly disclosing Rodney Piatt, vice chairman of the board and lead independent director – and also the primary developer of Southpointe II – was involved in a real estate deal for land on which the generic drugmaker built its headquarters.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday in March 2012, Piatt sold the seven-acre vacant parcel for $1 to a company owned by Andrew Miller, a business partner of Piatt’s, whose firm later that day sold the property to Mylan for $2.9 million. Mylan, according to the WSJ, announced the next day its plans for the five-story Robert J. Coury Global Center, named for its executive chairman.

Piatt is the founder and president of Horizon Properties Group, the lead developer of Southpointe II, the 217-acre second phase of the mixed-use park in Cecil Township off Interstate 79. All properties there are sold, and construction is nearing completion.

Mylan has been in the Coury center since December 2013. Earlier this year, Mylan incorporated in the Netherlands, but continues to operate its headquarters in Southpointe.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires public companies to advise shareholders of any transaction of $120,000-plus with any board member, executive or family member. Failing to do so casts suspicion a director may not really be independent.

Mylan, according to the WSJ, said disclosing Piatt’s link to the project was not necessary because he and the firm did not deal directly with one another.

The Journal also reported a second deal occurring in May. It said real estate records show Mylan paid Miller’s firm $9.2 million for 11 acres adjacent to the Coury center, a parcel Miller purchased from Piatt’s firm for $10 months earlier.

A spokeswoman for Mylan told the Journal Piatt, who also heads the company’s compensation committee, “was not a party to either transaction” and “had no direct or indirect material interest in the transactions.”

Miller told the Journal, “It was a way for us to make a clean transaction with the Mylan guys,” and said of the $1 deal: “Sometimes what you see on record doesn’t fully reflect all aspects of transactions that occurred.”

Piatt did not return a call to the Observer-Reporter seeking comment on the story.

The seven acres upon which the Coury center was erected were among 33 acres the Washington County Authority originally sold for the Town Center project, also developed by Horizon Properties, that is largely completed, but still ongoing. The authority administers development and was in charge of land sales to developers in Southpointe II, where its work is winding down. Cool Valley, near Southpointe and also in Cecil – and long discussed – will likely be its next project.

“We sold everything (in Southpointe II) for $125,000 an acre,” said Bill Sember, the authority’s director of operations, “Our mission was to bring in businesses and tax revenues and create jobs as quickly as possible.”

He said the authority tried to keep costs down “because it was a big cost for a developer to develop. One aspect about Southpointe that was different (from many similar parks) is that we didn’t create pad-ready lots. When developers bought from us, they had to do their own site work. We let the developer and architect be creative with the property they bought.”

He said he knew nothing about the two transactions that are now under fire until someone sent a copy of the Wall Street Journal to him. “We weren’t privy to the sales of property mentioned. We weren’t involved in those sales.”

The Journal’s story about the sale of land for Mylan’s Southpointe headquarters appeared as the company is in the process of trying to take over Irish drugmaker Perrigo, while at the same fending off a takeover attempt by generic drug giant Teva Pharmaceuticals.