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EU: Drugmaker Merck offers concessions in $17 billion acquisition

By  |  May 27, 2015

German drugmaker Merck has offered concessions in a bid to convince European Union antitrust regulators to clear its proposed $17 billion acquisition of U.S. peer Sigma-Aldrich Corp.

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    Earlier this month, Merck said the European Commission expressed concerns “of a limited nature” over its biggest ever takeover. It submitted concessions on May 22, according to a filing on the EU executive’s website. No details were provided.

    The EU competition watchdog will now decide by June 15 instead of June 1 whether to approve the takeover.

    Companies typically offer to sell overlapping assets or provide rivals access to technologies or patents to allay regulatory worries that the merged entity may have an excessive market share.

     

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