Health care giant Johnson & Johnson announced on Feb. 22 the successful completion of a friendly takeover of Dutch vaccine maker Crucell, for about $2.37 billion.
Johnson & Johnson, which employs 114,000 people, has said it intends to retain Crucell's management and staff and to keep the headquarters at Leiden in the western Netherlands.
Johnson & Johnson, which now owns more than 95% of Crucell's capital announced a supplementary offer period from Feb. 23 until March 8.
The health care giant first announced its intention to buy up Crucell last October and the European Commission authorized the takeover late last month, seeing no competition problems.
Crucell, which employs 1,300 people, produced more than 115 million doses of vaccine in 2009 for distribution in about 100 countries, mostly developing nations.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
