For those of you wondering whether or when HP’s pending acquisition of 3Com will be approved by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), what follows is the latest word, excerpted from a 3Com Form-8K SEC filing:
On November 11, 2009, we announced an agreement to be acquired by Hewlett-Packard Company pursuant to a merger agreement executed by the parties (the “Merger”). The parties are currently targeting completion of the merger by the end of April 2010, however the exact timing cannot be predicted.
The closing of the Merger is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of specified closing conditions, including, without limitation, (i) the adoption of the Merger Agreement by 3Com’s stockholders and (ii) the expiration or termination of waiting periods, and obtaining of requisite approvals or clearances, under specified antitrust and competition laws (including, without limitation in China, the European Union and the United States, among others). On December 22, 2009, the relevant U.S. antitrust authorities granted early termination of the waiting period under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended. On February 12, 2010, the European Commission cleared the Merger under the EU Merger Regulation. In addition, on January 26, 2010, 3Com’s stockholders adopted the Merger Agreement at a special meeting of stockholders.
So, the wait continues, but the end is in sight.
MOFCOM’s web site contains an interesting Shanghai Daily article from 2008, with the headline, “US called on to treat Chinese bid fairly”. tinyurl.com/mofcom-shanghai-daily
John Tkacik provided an interesting observation as a comment to a January WSJ article. tinyurl.com/wsj-tkacik-observation