Schering boards back Bayer offer
The executive and supervisory boards of Schering have announced their approval of Bayer's formal takeover and in turn recommend acceptance of the offer by its shareholders.
The executive and supervisory boards of Schering have announced their approval of Bayer's formal takeover and in turn recommend acceptance of the offer by its shareholders.
On 13 April Bayer made a cash offer of Euro 86 per share for all Schering shares. The boards believe that the offer price comprises "a premium over the recent and historical market prices of Schering shares and reflects in a fair way the potential and future perspectives of the Schering Group". Indeed, the offer - which represents a total transaction value of approximately €16.5bn - is around 61% above the unweighted 12-month average price and 39% above the closing share price before the initial Merck KGaA takeover rumours surfaced.
The boards of Schering also see the pharmaceutical businesses of Bayer and Schering to be "complementary..with a focus on specialty healthcare products", and believe the union will "form an important pharmaceutical company which will be in an even better position to compete in the global market".
The headquarters of the combined business, which will operate as "Bayer-Schering-Pharma", will be in Berlin, Germany. The executive boards of both companies have agreed to share any staff reductions in "a fair and balanced way".
The deadline for acceptance of Bayer's offer is the close of 31 May.