P&G Announces Wella Tender Offer Final Results

Procter & Gamble Co. said 28.47% of Wella AG’s registered shares were tendered in its offer for the German firm, which will bring its stake in Wella to 79.17% of registered share capital. The consumer products giant said about 9.1 million voting shares and 10.2 million preference shares of Wella were tendered in the offer, which expired last Friday.

P&G agreed to buy 77.57% of the hair care product maker’s voting shares on March 17 for about $7 billion. A day later, P&G announced that it planned to launch a tender offer to all Wella shareholders. P&G said that the tender, combined with its share purchase agreement, will bring its ownership to 79.17% of registered share capital and 84.9% of the value of the outstanding shares.

A group of Wella Preference Shareholders, advised by Close Brothers, announced on Friday 20 June 2003 that they would not tender a certain number of Wella Preference Shares held by them prior to Friday’s closing date. They said in a statement that in total, 56.51% of the Wella Preference Shares rejected P&G’s offer.

P&G still needs regulatory approval to formally acquire the shares and begin incorporating Wella into the company. A company spokeswoman said all the relevant regulatory filings have been made, but couldn’t speculate on the timing of when the deal will be completed.