Alere Sues Abbott to Force Merger -- 2nd Update
August 26 2016 - 1:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Austen Hufford
Alere Inc. escalated its fight with reluctant buyer Abbott
Laboratories by filing a lawsuit against its potential acquirer to
push it to move forward with the deal.
Abbott agreed to buy Alere in February for nearly $5 billion.
Since then, Alere disclosed it has received a subpoena regarding a
foreign corruption investigation over payments in Africa, Asia and
Latin America and it said separately that federal investigators are
seeking information about government-billing practices. The company
was also late in filing its 2015 annual report.
Since agreeing to the deal, Abbott has signaled it might not
want to ultimately go through with it. Earlier this month Abbott
said the deal might not be completed "on a timely basis, or at
all." Alere rejected an offer of up to $50 million to terminate the
deal.
Alere said Friday that it would "take all actions necessary" to
make Abbott complete the deal.
The complaint isn't publicly available, but a related court
filing Thursday said Abbott "has breached the merger agreement
between the parties by failing to promptly secure antitrust
approvals and other regulatory requirements." Alere is seeking to
expedite the proceedings.
Abbott said the lawsuit was without merit. "Abbott is compliant
with its obligations under the merger agreement and continues to
work toward regulatory approvals, despite Alere's nearly six-month
delay in filing its" annual report, a spokeswoman for Abbott
said.
Abbott shares slipped 0.2% as Alere shares fell 3% in afternoon
trading Friday. Alere shares recently traded at $39.46, well below
the deal price of $56, indicating investors are doubtful that the
deal will close.
--Liz Hoffman contributed to this article.
Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 26, 2016 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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