Germany’s Merck KGaA says that it successfully completed a squeeze-out of minority stockholders and now holds 100% of the shares of Merck-Serono, its biopharmaceutical unit set up after the acquisition of Switzerland’s Serono at the end of last year.
Merck-Serono is now expected to be delisted from the Swiss stock exchange on July 18 and the company noted that the affected holders of the publicly-traded shares of the unit will receive the same compensation as those who tendered their stock during the public Swiss takeover offer for 1,100 Swiss francs in cash per share. Merck-Serono shareholders who hold their shares in a safe custody account will automatically have the sum paid out to their account, “presumably on July 31”, Merck said, adding that shareholders holding cancelled Merck-Serono share certificates “at home or in a bank safe are requested to present them at their local bank in Switzerland or at a Swiss office of UBS”.
Holders of American Depositary Receipts on Merck Serono bearer shares will be entitled to receive the US dollar equivalent of 27.50 francs per ADR.
