Merck's Cubist Tender Offer Clears Hart Scott Overnight

Just made public, and as filed this early morning -- at the SEC's EDGAR desk -- Merck's tender offer for Cubist has cleared Hart-Scott, as of midnight last night. No antitrust wrinkles -- just as we said.

Pretty shortly, the tender offer period closes as well. In fact, that is set to occur 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on next Tuesday, January 20, 2015. So, that condition is satisfied (see (i) below) -- now we await word from Austria and France (see (ii), and (iii)below):

. . . .(i) the waiting period (and any extension thereof) applicable to the consummation of the Offer and the Merger under the HSR Act, shall not have expired or been terminated, (ii) the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement shall not have been cleared under the Austrian Cartel Act (Kartellgesetz 2005), and (iii) the French Ministry of Economy does not provide confirmation that Articles L.151-3 and R.153-1 and seq (as modified by Decree n°2014-479 of May 14, 2014) of the French Monetary and Financial Code do not apply to the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement or, in the alternative, there has not been requisite authorization without condition of the French Ministry of Economy of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement. . . .

We will keep you posted. But this is good -- and largely expected -- news.