McKesson Corp. announced Friday that it has launched a voluntary public takeover offer for the remaining shares it does not yet own of German drug distributor Celesio.
The San Francisco-based healthcare services and information technology company currently owns more than 75% of Celesio shares, which it closed on earlier this month. That was enough to exceed the ownership threshold needed to acquire Celesio under German law.
But now, McKesson plans to purchase the remaining outstanding shares of Celesio through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary Dragonfly at an offer price of 23.5 euros per share. Shareholders will have until April 2 to accept the deal and then another two weeks to do so following the publication of the results of the takeover offer.
Late last month, after a series of failed attempts to acquire Celesio, McKesson convinced Celesio's two largest shareholders—Franz Haniel & Cie. and Elliott Management Corp.—to tender their shares and convertible bonds, also for 23.5 euros per share. That put the deal's value at about 6.2 billion euros ($8.4 billion), which McKesson covered with cash and a bridge loan.
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