Roche (SWX: ROG.VX; RO.S) has increased its offer price for all outstanding publicly-held shares of Genentech (NYSE: DNA) to US$ 93 per share and extended the offer to 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on Friday, March 20, 2009. All other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged. Franz B. Humer, Chairman of the Roche Group, said: "Based on conversations with Genentech shareholders, we believe that there is a strong sentiment to bring this process to a conclusion. As a result, we are increasing our price to US$ 93 per share to maximize shareholder participation and will proceed quickly to complete all necessary financing. We now look forward to successfully completing the transaction."
The Offer to Purchase, Letter of Transmittal and other offering documents have been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Genentech stockholders may obtain copies of all of the offering documents, including the Offer to Purchase, free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
As of the close of business on March 5, 2009, approximately 500,000 shares have been tendered pursuant to the offer.
Additional information about the transaction, including the offering documents, is available at www.transactioninfo.com/roche.
Greenhill & Co. is acting as financial advisor to Roche and Davis Polk & Wardwell is acting as legal counsel in connection with the tender offer.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world's biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving peopleâs health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2008 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 36.0 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 9.7 billion francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invested nearly 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2008. Worldwide, the Group employs about 80,000 people. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.