NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – A shareholder has filed a lawsuit to stop Merck KGaA's proposed $17 billion buy of Sigma-Aldrich, Shareholders Foundation, a legal monitoring and settlement claim filing service, said today.
According to Shareholders Foundation, the unnamed plaintiff alleges that the $17 billion price tag undervalues Sigma-Aldrich. In a statement, Shareholders Foundation cited as proof Sigma-Aldrich's claim that its total revenues for 2013 increased to more than $2.70 billion from $2.27 billion in 2010. It further noted that the company's net income during the same period increased to $491 million from $384 million.
Under the terms of the deal, Merck KGaA would pay $140 for each outstanding share of Sigma-Aldrich, which would represent a 37 percent premium to Sigma-Aldrich's closing stock price of $102.37 on Sept. 19, the last trading day before the deal was announced.