Delaware Supreme Court Upholds Ruling Allowing Fresenius to End Akorn Deal
December 07 2018 - 10:54AM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
The Delaware Supreme Court on Friday said German health-care
company Fresenius SE (FRE.XE) can walk away from its $4.3 billion
deal buy generic-drug maker Akorn Inc. (AKRX), sending Akorn shares
down more than 30%.
Fresenius in April said it was terminating the deal, struck a
year earlier, because Akorn hadn't fulfilled several closing
conditions and because it found material breaches of Food and Drug
Administration data-integrity requirements relating to Akorn's
operations during its independent investigation.
Akorn sued Fresenius seeking to enforce the deal, but a Delaware
Chancery Court upheld the termination. Akorn appealed the ruling,
arguing that the court erred in several ways.
However, the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday said the record
supports the lower court's finding that Akorn "had suffered a
material adverse effect...that excused any obligation on
Fresenius's part to close," and that Fresenius had properly
terminated the merger.
Shares of Akorn fell 33.8% in Friday morning trading to $3.70,
some 89% below the $34 a share Fresenius has agreed to pay for the
company.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 07, 2018 11:39 ET (16:39 GMT)
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