MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation announced it has secured final approval from the European Commission (EC) on the planned acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, said the company on its site.
The EC provided conditional approval of the acquisition on June 15, 2015, subject to approval of the divestment of certain Sigma-Aldrich assets. On October 20, 2015, Sigma-Aldrich announced an agreement to sell parts of its solvents and inorganics business to Honeywell. The EC has now approved Honeywell as a suitable buyer of the divestment business meaning all closing requirements have been met and the formal completion of the Sigma-Aldrich acquisition will take place on November 18.
On September 22, 2014, Merck and Sigma-Aldrich announced they had entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck will acquire Sigma-Aldrich for USD17 billion - $140 cash per share - establishing one of the leading players in the USD130 billion global life science industry.
Sigma-Aldrich 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 9,700 employees worldwide and had sales of USD2.79 billion in 2014.
As MRC wrote before, by acquiring a majority stake in InnovationLab GmbH, Merck and BASF, the world's largest petrochemical producer, are increasing their involvement in order to continue the successful scientific work of the Heidelberg-based research and transfer platform for organic electronics in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.
Merck KGaA is a German multinational chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company headquartered in Darmstadt, with around 40,000 employees in around 70 countries. Merck was founded in 1668 and is the world's oldest operating chemical and pharmaceutical company. Merck operates mainly in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America. It has major research and development centres in Darmstadt, Boston, Tokyo and Beijing.
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