Versum accepts new deal from Merck KGaA

Abstract

Five dollars per share more did the trick. Merck KGaA, the German drug and chemical conglomerate, has increased its offer to acquire Versum Materials by that amount, and Versum has accepted. The agreement likely marks the end of a takeover battle that began in late January when Versum and Entegris announced that they were merging to become a $3 billion-per-year supplier of high-purity materials for making computer chips. A few weeks later, Merck stepped in with an offer to acquire Versum for $48 per share in cash, or about $6 billion including Versum’s debt. Merck contended that its offer—a 52% premium over Versum’s stock price before the Entegris deal was announced—was superior because it provided shareholders more certainty than the merger with Entegris did. Versum produces deposition materials, specialty gases, and chemical-mechanical planarization slurries; it had sales last year of about $1.4 billion. Both deals would make it part of