Abbot Completes Acquisition of Deutag

Abbot

Abbot announces that it completed the acquisition of Deutag on October 1, 2001. On August 31 Abbot announced the proposed acquisition of Deutag for a total consideration of up to £134 million, and a related placing and open offer to raise approximately £44.3 million. The proposed acquisition was conditional on, Abbot shareholder approval and German and UK regulatory clearances. On September 25 Abbot shareholders voted in favor of the proposed acquisition and on September 27, German regulatory clearance was received. The Office of Fair Trading expects to complete its evaluation of the transaction under the UK merger rules by the end of October. While the Board cannot anticipate the likely outcome of this evaluation, it believes that it is in the interests of the company to complete the acquisition as soon as possible and, accordingly, the UK regulatory clearance condition has been waived. Commenting on the acquisition, Executive Chairman Alasdair Locke said 'The logic for Abbot acquiring Deutag remains compelling. We decided to accelerate the completion of the acquisition in order to capture the full benefits, both financial and commercial, as soon as possible for our shareholders. The prospects for the enlarged Abbot Group are good, with the managements of both KCA and Deutag looking forward to working together'.

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