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Maytag
board approves Whirlpool offer for US$1.7bn
New York: After a three-month long bidding war,
the Maytag board has agreed to be acquired by Whirlpool,
its rival in the home appliance business, for US$1.7bn.
After
Ripplewood Holdings, the other remaining bidder, decided
not to raise its US$14-a-share cash bid for Maytag on
Sunday, Maytag decided to accept Whirlpool's competing
offer of US$21 a share in cash and stock. Whirlpool will
also assume US$977mn in debt.
Whirlpool,
which raised its bid three times, said it expected the
transaction to close as early as the first quarter of
next year, assuming the support of Maytag shareholders
and antitrust approval.
Though
Whirlpool and Maytag executives said they were confident
the deal would pass regulatory muster, the consolidation
of market share will almost certainly draw antitrust scrutiny.
Whirlpool,
which owns the KitchenAid and Roper brands, now has 30
per cent to 35 per cent of the domestic appliance market,
while Maytag, which makes Amana and Jenn-Air, holds at
least 15 percent. A completed deal would catapult Whirlpool
ahead of Electrolux of Sweden as the world's top maker
of appliances.
Whirlpool
has tried to temper concerns that the deal would strike
regulators as anticompetitive by citing the support of
its top retailers and buying groups, and noting that the
combined entity's share of eight core appliance categories
would still be below 30 percent.
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Merck
may face US$18bn in lawsuits - Vioxx death toll estimated
at 60,000
Beijing:
Merck, the third-largest drug maker of the United
States, is all set to face a potential US$18bn lawsuit,
even as it is being estimated that about 60,000 people
worldwide may have died after using the painkiller Vioxx
that the company manufactured.
A Texas jury found last week Merck & Co. liable in
the death of a 59-year-old marathon runner who took the
once-popular pain reliever Vioxx, and awarded his widow
US$253.4mn.
The
case drew nationwide attention because it was the first
of about 4,000 Vioxx wrongful death and injury lawsuits
to reach trial.
The
suits alleged that the company rushed Vioxx to market
without adequate tests and downplayed risks of heart attacks
and strokes from the blockbuster drug before voluntarily
withdrawing it from the market last year.
Robert
Ernst, the victim, had worked as a produce manager at
Wal-Mart and died in his sleep of a heart problem in 2001
after taking Vioxx for eight months to ease pain in his
hands.
Merck
said it was disappointed by the verdict and would appeal.
Vioxx generated US$2.5bn in sales for Merck last year.
In September 2004, the company pulled the drug from the
market after a study showed that it doubled the risk of
heart attacks and strokes after 18 months of use.
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