European Commission approves DuPont’s tender offer for Danisco

05 April 2011 11:34  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Dupont’s tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of food ingredients and enzymes group Danisco for Danish kroner (Dkr) 665 ($127, €89) in cash per share has been approved by the European Commission, the US chemicals major said on Tuesday.

DuPont entered an agreement to acquire Denmark’s Danisco for $6.3bn on 10 January. The purchase will involve $5.8bn paid in cash and the assumption of $500m of Danisco's net debt.

"We are pleased to have achieved one of the last important milestones in the pending acquisition of Danisco," said DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman.

"Only Chinese approval now remains as a regulatory condition of closing. We remain confident that Danisco shareholders will follow their board's recommendation to accept our premium cash offer and the transaction will be completed later this month,” she added.

Competition approval has already been obtained in the US and similar regulatory approval in China is progressing, DuPont said.

On 30 March, DuPont extended its tender offer to acquire the shares of Danisco for a second time, by four weeks until 29 April, in order to get additional time to secure approvals from regulators in the EU and China. DuPont extended the offer for the first time on 18 February.

DuPont expects to close the offer for the deal early in the second quarter.

($1 = Dkr5.24, €1 = Dkr7.46)

For more on DuPont visit ICIS company intelligence

By: Franco Capaldo
+44 (0)20 8652 3214

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