McKesson Says Owns 75.7% Of Celesio Shares; Extends Offer Period Until April 22

(RTTNews) - U.S. drug distributor McKesson Corp. (MCK) announced that the results of the initial acceptance period of the voluntary public takeover offer for the remaining shares of Celesio AG (CAKFF.PK) have been published. McKesson said it now owns 75.7% of Celesio shares on a fully diluted basis.

McKesson said that shareholders who did not tender their Celesio shares into the Takeover Offer during the initial acceptance period may tender their shares within the additional two-week acceptance period. The additional two-week acceptance period will begin on April 8, 2014 and will expire on April 22, 2014.

On 28th February 2014, McKesson announced that it launched a voluntary public takeover offer for the remaining outstanding shares of Celesio AG through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Dragonfly GmbH & Co. KGaA. McKesson exceeds 75% ownership of Celesio shares on a fully diluted basis.

McKesson stated that Celesio shareholders can now accept the Takeover Offer and tender their shares in Celesio at the offer price of 23.50 per share euros. The initial acceptance period would end on April 2, 2014 and would be followed by an additional two-week acceptance period following the publication of the results of Takeover Offer.

On 23rd January 2014, McKesson said that it secured the acquisition of German peer Celesio AG through two new agreements with Celesio's largest shareholders.

On 23rd January, McKesson reached a deal with Celesio's majority shareholder Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH to acquire its entire stake of Celesio shares for 23.50 euros per share, the same price as its previous offer. The company also signed a separate deal with an affiliate of activist investor Elliott Management to acquire Celesio convertible bonds.

On 13rd January, McKesson had also said that it was unsuccessful in reaching the 75 percent tender completion threshold to acquire Celesio.

San Francisco-based McKesson agreed to acquire Celesio in late October 2013 in a deal valued at about $8.3 billion, including debt.