Merck Secures All Antitrust Approvals For Sigma-Aldrich Purchase - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Drugmaker Merck KgaA (MKGAY.PK) Tuesday said all approvals have been secured from relevant jurisdictions for its planned acquisition of U.S.-based life science company Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL).

Unconditional approval from Brazil's Council for Economic Defense, which was the final outstanding country, was received. This clearance becomes effective after a common waiting period of 15 days. This follows recently received antitrust approvals from the competition authorities of Israel and South Korea.

Merck expects a completion of the transaction in the third quarter 2015. The closing of the transaction is still subject to the Commitments made to the European Commission, following its conditional approval of the transaction, announced on June 15.

As a result, Merck and Sigma-Aldrich have agreed to sell parts of Sigma-Aldrich's solvents and inorganics business in Europe.

It was on September 22, 2014, that Merck and Sigma-Aldrich announced they entered into a definitive agreement for Merck to acquire Sigma-Aldrich for $17.0 billion, establishing one of the leading players in the $130 billion global life science industry.