NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Laboratory Corporation of America today said it has extended its cash tender offer to purchase Orchid Cellmark to 5 p.m. EDT Oct. 7.
The extension is the sixth by LabCorp since it launched its bid for Orchid in April for $2.80 per share, or a total price tag of $85.4 million. The offer had been previously extended to Sept. 9.
LabCorp received a request from the US Federal Trade Commission in May for additional information about the purchase and said today that it continues to cooperate with the agency's request.
The depositary for the tender offer has told LabCorp that as of 5 p.m. EDT Sept. 9, shareholders of Orchid had validly tendered and not withdrawn more than 26 million shares of the company's stock, including 173,688 shares of stock tendered through notices of guaranteed delivery. The shares tendered make up about 87.2 percent of all outstanding shares of Orchid, and about 86.6 percent excluding the shares tendered by notices of guaranteed delivery.
On a fully diluted basis, the tendered shares represent 80 percent of all outstanding shares of Orchid, and 79.4 percent excluding the shares tendered by guaranteed delivery.