By Kim Na-young
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s major pharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc. announced Friday that it will hold a shareholders’ meeting on Monday to decide whether to merge with its sales and marketing affiliate, Celltrion Healthcare Co.
The online vote for those who cannot attend the on-site meeting will close on Sunday, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Celltrion Healthcare also said that its stakeholders meeting will be held on the same day.
If the merger is approved on Monday, the two companies are expected to be fully integrated by Dec. 28, and the new company’s shares will be available to purchase starting on Jan. 12 of next year.
In August, Celltrion revealed its plan to combine its three listed firms — Celltrion, Celltrion Healthcare, and Celltrion Pharm Inc. — in order to improve its cost competitiveness and diversify its pipeline to become a global drugmaker that produces biosimilars and new drugs.
Celltrion plans to first integrate with Celltrion Healthcare and then merge with its chemical pharmaceutical affiliate.
Celltrion is the 15th-largest company on the main KOSPI bourse in terms of market capitalization worth about 20.7 trillion won (US$15.2 billion).
The corporate logo of Celltrion (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
nyway@yna.co.kr
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