WOONSOCKET – In light of yesterday’s court decision delaying the Caremark Rx shareholder vote on the planned merger with CVS Corp., CVS says it is postponing its own shareholder meeting.
“We look forward to completing our merger with Caremark in early March,” CVS Chairman and CEO Thomas M. Ryan said in a statement last night. Both companies have pledged to inform shareholders promptly of the new meeting dates.
In a lawsuit brought by a Louisiana retirement fund, Delaware Chancery Court Judge William Chandler yesterday agreed to enjoin Caremark from holding its shareholders’ vote until at least March 9, to give investors time to consider the revised CVS offer.
CVS this week raised its bid 7 percent, to $25.7 billion, by tripling the planned post-merger dividend. If the deal is approved, Caremark shareholders will receive 1.67 shares in CVS/Caremark for each Caremark share, plus a post-merger dividend of $6 per share.
Rival bidder Express Scripts Inc.’s highly leveraged offer is valued at $26.1 billion.
Additional information is available at www.cvscaremarkmerger.com.
