European Commission approves sale of divestment business to Honeywell
Merck announced that following the final approval of the European Commission it is set to complete its $17 billion (€13.1 billion) acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich.
The European Commission had granted conditional approval to the acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich on June 15, 2015, subject to the divestment of certain Sigma-Aldrich assets. On October 20, 2015, Merck announced an agreement to sell parts of Sigma-Aldrich’s solvents and inorganics business to Honeywell. Now that the European Commission has approved that transaction, all necessary closing requirements have been fulfilled for Merck to complete the acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich. The formal completion date is scheduled for November 18, with the delisting of Sigma-Aldrich’s stock from NASDAQ taking effect following completion.
Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Merck said, “We’ve reached the home stretch and are set to complete the largest acquisition in our almost 350-year history. With this acquisition, Merck will become a leading player in the $130 billion life science industry with almost 20,000 people, 300,000 products and thousands of patents coming together to help our customers tackle the toughest problems in life science with innovative solutions.”
Merck and Sigma-Aldrich announced on September 22, 2014 that they had entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck would acquire all outstanding shares of Sigma-Aldrich for $140 per share in cash. The final approval of the European Commission follows the approval of the acquisition by Sigma-Aldrich’s shareholders at a special meeting held on December 5, 2014 and the satisfaction of other customary conditions, including antitrust clearance in the US, China, Japan and several other countries.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai
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