Bayer completes Schering AG takeover

Drug and chemicals group Bayer AG says it has completed its take over of fellow Germany-based company Schering AG (Marketletters passim), following the expiration of the additional acceptance period. The firm says that it now has control of 92.4% of Schering's approximately 191 million outstanding shares, which Bayer's board chairman, Werner Wenning, said indicated that the market considered 89.0 euro per share to be an attractive price. He added that "we're still aiming to acquire the entire stock of Schering, but we're not in a hurry."

Bayer said that an extraordinary stockholders' meeting in Berlin, scheduled for September of this year, will discuss the approval of a domination and profit transfer between the two firms. The company also said that, in light of its achievement of a majority stockholding, it will include Schering's financial results in its reporting for the year and added that, as a result, the publication of its second and third quarter reports would be deferred until August 29 and November 27, respectively.