Sigma-Aldrich and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Making Progress Toward Completion of Planned Acquisition

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (NASDAQ:  SIAL) announced today it is making progress toward closing the planned acquisition of the Company by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The closing is now expected within the next two months.

On August 11, 2015, Sigma-Aldrich and Merck announced they had obtained all necessary antitrust approvals, with the approval of the European Commission (EC) being conditional upon the sale of parts of Sigma-Aldrich's solvents and inorganics business in Europe.  Negotiations with potential buyers are in the final stage. Once a binding agreement has been signed, the EC must approve the buyer before Merck can complete the Sigma-Aldrich acquisition. 

On September 22, 2014, Merck and Sigma-Aldrich announced they had entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck, will acquire Sigma-Aldrich for $17 billion - $140 cash per share, establishing one of the leading players in the $130 billion global life science industry.

Cautionary Statement:  The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "making progress toward," or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived there from.  You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. The closing of the Transaction is subject to fulfillment of certain commitments made to the European Commission which may occur later than expected by the parties. There can be no guarantee that this or any other transaction will assist Sigma-Aldrich to achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future.  In particular, management's expectations regarding the Transaction could be affected by, among other things, Sigma-Aldrich's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to Sigma-Aldrich's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet; and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Annual Report on Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Sigma-Aldrich:  Sigma-Aldrich, a leading Life Science and Technology company focused on enhancing human health and safety, manufactures and distributes 250,000 chemicals, biochemicals and other essential products to more than 1.4 million customers globally in research and applied labs as well as in industrial and commercial markets. With three distinct business units - Research, Applied and SAFC Commercial - Sigma-Aldrich is committed to enabling science to improve the quality of life.  The Company operates in 37 countries, has approximately 9,700 employees worldwide and had sales of $2.79 billion in 2014. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its website at www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Sigma-Aldrich is a registered trademark of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich

Related Links

http://www.sigma-aldrich.com