Merck Completes Acquisition of Intermolecular

Additional milestone for proposed Versum acquisition achieved

23-Sep-2019 - Germany

Merck announced the completion of its acquisition of Intermolecular, Inc., a California-based company for advanced materials innovation.

“Today is a very special day for us as we successfully complete the acquisition and welcome Intermolecular to Merck. For three and a half centuries, we have been dedicated to advancing science and technology for the benefit of human progress. I am glad that Intermolecular shares this spirit. Together we are well-positioned to drive and accelerate future innovations in the electronic materials industry,” said Kai Beckmann, member of the Executive Board of Merck and CEO Performance Materials.

The closing follows the satisfaction of regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. Upon closing, approximately 90 employees at Intermolecular’s Research & Development site in San Jose, California, USA will become part of the Performance Materials business sector of Merck.

On May 6, 2019, Merck signed a definitive agreement to acquire Intermolecular through a subsidiary for US$1.20 per share in an all-cash transaction, representing an equity value of approximately US$ 62 million.

Intermolecular possesses application-specific materials expertise as well as accelerated learning and experimentation platforms with a powerful analytics infrastructure that complement the business and technology portfolio of Merck. Intermolecular’s fabrication and testing capabilities allow material combinations to be tested directly within the specific target application. In comparison with conventional methods, these capabilities translate to major time reductions in the development process, dramatically accelerated learning cycles and insights into novel material systems to provide customers with unique service value.

Merck has also achieved another important milestone in its strategic ‘Bright Future’ transformation program. On September 16, 2019, Versum Materials Inc. and Merck received notice from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) stating that CFIUS has completed its review of the proposed acquisition of Versum by Merck and has concluded that there are no unresolved national security concerns with respect to the transaction. The parties continue to work toward closing in the second half of 2019, subject to receipt of antitrust approval in China and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. On April 12, 2019, Merck signed a definitive agreement to acquire Versum Materials, one of the world's leading suppliers of innovation-driven, high-purity process chemicals, gases and equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, for US$53 per share in cash.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/1162901/merck-completes-acquisition-of-intermolecular.html