ST. LOUIS, June 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich
Corporation (NASDAQ: SIAL) announced today that the European
Commission (the "EC") has conditionally cleared the planned
acquisition of the Company by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (the "Transaction").
Sigma-Aldrich also announced it has obtained full clearance of the
Transaction from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
These latest jurisdictions to clear the Transaction follow
clearance in May by Japanese authorities. Antitrust clearance
has also been obtained in the United
States, Russia, Serbia,
Ukraine, South Africa and Taiwan.
To satisfy the conditions imposed by the EC for clearance of the
Transaction, both Sigma-Aldrich, and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt,
Germany, have agreed to sell parts
of Sigma-Aldrich's solvents and inorganics chemicals business in
the European Economic Area as a fully integrated, stand-alone
business. This includes the rights to all solvents and
inorganics sold globally under the Fluka® brand.
The closing of the Transaction remains subject to certain other
conditions including clearance by antitrust authorities in
Brazil, Israel and South Korea. Both companies
continue to work toward a closing date of mid-2015.
On September 22, 2014, Merck KGaA,
Darmstadt, Germany, and
Sigma-Aldrich announced they had entered into a definitive
agreement under which Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will acquire Sigma-Aldrich for
$17 billion - $140 cash per share,
establishing one of the leading players in the $130 billion global life science industry.
Cautionary Statement: The foregoing release contains
forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology
such as "continue to work toward," "expect," "remains subject" or
similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions
regarding potential future revenues from products derived there
from. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such
forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management
regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such statements. The closing
of the Transaction is subject to antitrust clearances and a
clearance process that is out of the control of the Company and
hence may occur later than expected by the parties. There can
be no guarantee that this or any other transaction will assist the
Company to achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future.
In particular, management's expectations regarding this Transaction
could be affected by, among other things, the Company's ability to
obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual
property protection; competition in general; government, industry
and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing
factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets
and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and
other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form
10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should
one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary
materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.
Sigma-Aldrich is providing the
information in this press release as of this date and does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich, a leading Life
Science and Technology company focused on enhancing human health
and safety, manufactures and distributes 250,000 chemicals,
biochemicals and other essential products to more than 1.4 million
customers globally in research and applied labs as well as in
industrial and commercial markets. With three distinct
business units - Research, Applied and SAFC Commercial -
Sigma-Aldrich is committed to enabling science to improve the
quality of life. The Company operates in 37 countries, has
approximately 9,300 employees worldwide and had sales of
$2.79 billion in 2014. For more
information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its website at
www.sigma-aldrich.com.
Sigma-Aldrich is a registered
trademark of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC. Fluka is a registered trademark
of Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH.
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SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation