Johnson & Johnson complete friendly takeover of Crucell

Pharmaceutical and health care giant Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday the successful completion of a friendly takeover of Dutch vaccine maker Crucell, for about 1.75 billion euros ($2.37 billion).

"Johnson & Johnson and Crucell today announce that Johnson & Johnson has completed the tender offer for Crucell," the companies said in a joint statement.

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 percent of Crucell's capital announced a supplementary offer period from Wednesday until March 8.

The health care giant first announced its intention to buy up Crucell last October for 24.75 euros per share.

The European Commission authorised 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.

(c) 2011 AFP