Bayer offer for Schering AG unchanged, despite Ultravist news

Following the announcement by Schering AG that it is voluntarily withdrawing its X-ray contrast media agent Ultravist injection 370mgl/ml (iopromide), due to the potential that particulate matter in conjunction with crystallization may be present in the product, fellow German drugmaker Bayer, which is in the late-stage process of buying the firm, said it cannot exclude the fact that this, plus insufficient results of a Phase III clinical trial with sargramostin (see page 20), will slightly depress Schering's value.

The news came shortly after Schering released the results of a valuation of itself by KPMG, which put a worth of 16.72 billion euros ($21.12 billion), or 87.63 euros, on the company (see page 2). Bayer told the Schering board that, despite the new situation, its offer remains unchanged. The latter said it has decided to accept the Bayer offer of a cash compensation of 89.00 euros per share with the alternative of a guaranteed annual dividend of 3.62 euros a share.

Other strengths of Ultravist not affected