Merck Receives Final Antitrust Clearance for AZ Takeover
Merck announced that it has received Chinese antitrust clearance from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM), meaning that the last condition relating to antitrust clearances has now been satisfied.
AZ shareholders now have until May 7 to tender their shares. With the Chinese antitrust clearance, the acceptance threshold was lowered to 75 percent as planned. According to the U.K. Takeover Code, Merck can complete the transaction as soon as all conditions have been satisfied and the acceptance threshold has been reached. Apart from China, the necessary antitrust clearances in Germany, Japan, Taiwan and the United States had already been granted.
“We are pleased that our constructive negotiations with MOFCOM have led to a clearance in China and that we can now swiftly complete the acquisition of AZ Electronic Materials”, said Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck.
At 1:00 p.m. (London time) on April 30, 2014, Merck had received valid acceptances of the offer in respect of 241,969,338 AZ shares, representing approximately 63.52 percent of the existing issued share capital of AZ Electronic Materials.
On December 5, 2013, Merck announced that it had reached an agreement with the AZ board regarding a recommended cash offer for AZ, the strategic rationale of which is to further expand Merck’s materials and specialty chemicals business by adding a globally leading premium supplier of high-tech materials for the electronics industry.
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