Merck KGaA: turns hostile on US target Versum
(CercleFinance.com) - Merck KGaA's 6 billion dollar bid for Versum turned hostile on Tuesday as the German group directly submitted its offer to Versum shareholders.
Shares of Versum, which supplies products and equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, are up 1% at 50.2 dollars, above Merck's 48 dollar offer per share. Merck shares were up 0.7% in Frankfurt.
The Darmstadt-based giant said its offer is "unquestionably superior" to the proposed Entegris deal, which is currently preferred by Versum's board.
"The Versum board's hasty rejection of our proposal and unwillingness to engage in discussions with us has forced us to take this proposal directly to shareholders," Merck said in a statement.
Its offer represents a 51.7% premium over Versum's last listed price on the day before the Entegris acquisition was announced and represents a premium of 23.6% over Entegris' offer yesterday, it noted.
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Shares of Versum, which supplies products and equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, are up 1% at 50.2 dollars, above Merck's 48 dollar offer per share. Merck shares were up 0.7% in Frankfurt.
The Darmstadt-based giant said its offer is "unquestionably superior" to the proposed Entegris deal, which is currently preferred by Versum's board.
"The Versum board's hasty rejection of our proposal and unwillingness to engage in discussions with us has forced us to take this proposal directly to shareholders," Merck said in a statement.
Its offer represents a 51.7% premium over Versum's last listed price on the day before the Entegris acquisition was announced and represents a premium of 23.6% over Entegris' offer yesterday, it noted.
Copyright (c) 2019 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.