Roche says controlling family won't have to make offer to other shareholders
05/11/2021 07:02
ZURICH, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Roche ROG.S said on Friday that
its controlling family will be exempt from having to make an
offer to other shareholders after the drugmaker's $20.7 billion
deal to buy back Novartis's NOVN.S nearly one third voting
stake.
The pool of family shareholders, who previously owned 45.01%
of the voting rights in Roche, were given the exemption by the
Swiss takeover board, the company said. The decision was
confirmed on the takeover board's website. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2RV17V
In Switzerland a mandatory offer obligation is normally
triggered whenever a shareholder or group of shareholders
directly or indirectly acquires equity securities in a listed
Swiss company that exceed 33.33% of the voting rights.
Roche said on Thursday, when the Novartis deal was
announced, that it will use debt to finance what it called a
"disentanglement of two competitors" and plans to reduce its
capital by cancelling the repurchased shares to regain full
strategic flexibility.
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Susan Fenton)
((John.Revill@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58306 7022; Reuters
Messaging: john.revill.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))