Bayer Issues New Shares to Help Finance Schering Deal

Posted 06 July 2006 @ 08:28 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

Leverkusen (Reuters) - Bayer, the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant, said it was issuing 34 million new shares to help finance the acquisition of contraceptive drug specialist Schering. The new shares, equivalent to a stake of 4.7 percent, would be placed with institutional investors both inside and outside Germany via a so-called accelerated bookbuilding process, Bayer said in a statement.

The results of the issue, which based on the closing price of Bayer shares on Wednesday would raise around 1.2 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars), would be announced later on Thursday. Bayer is paying a total 16.9 billion euros for Berlin-based Schering, after being forced to up its original offer price by arch-rival Merck KGaA, which had bought up large packets of Schering shares via the open market in a bitter takeover battle last month.