QIAGEN Announces Approval of Digene Acquisition Received at Extraordinary General Meeting of QIAGEN Shareholders
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VENLO, The Netherlands, July 20 -- QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) announced that it has received the vote of the necessary percentage of its shareholders in favor of the acquisition of Digene Corporation at QIAGEN's Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders held today in The Netherlands. The receipt of this favorable vote which was obtained with an overwhelming majority of the votes cast satisfies one of the key remaining conditions required to close the transaction.
On June 3, 2007, QIAGEN and Digene announced that they had entered into a merger agreement, under which QIAGEN will acquire Digene in a transaction that consists of 55% cash and 45% QIAGEN stock. The transaction is subject to the tender of a majority of Digene's common stock on a fully diluted basis before 11:59 p.m. EST on July 20, 2007, unless the offer is extended.
The Companies have successfully completed major milestones towards closing this transaction in a shorter period of time than initially projected. Previously, QIAGEN and Digene announced they expected to complete the transaction in August/September. QIAGEN now believes that it should be able to close the transaction in the earlier part of this period.
About QIAGEN
QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company is the leading provider of innovative sample and assay technologies and products. QIAGEN's products are considered standards in areas such as pre-analytical sample preparation and assay solutions in research for life sciences, applied testing and molecular diagnostics. QIAGEN has developed a comprehensive portfolio of more than 500 proprietary, consumable products and automated solutions for sample collection, nucleic acid and protein handling, separation, and purification and open and target specific assays. The company's products are sold to academic research markets, to leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, to applied testing customers (such as in forensics, veterinary, biodefense and industrial applications) as well as to molecular diagnostics laboratories. QIAGEN employs more than 1,900 people worldwide. QIAGEN products are sold through a dedicated sales force and a global network of distributors in more than 40 countries. In this press release QIAGEN is using the term molecular diagnostics. The use of this term is in reference to certain countries, such as the United States, limited to products subject to regulatory requirements. Current QIAGEN molecular diagnostics products are 34 EU CE IVD assays, six EU CE IVD sample preparation products, one 510k PAX RNA product, nine China SFDA IVD assays and 98 general purpose reagents. Further information about QIAGEN can be found at www.qiagen.com.
Source: Qiagen N V
Contact Information: Investors: Dr. Solveigh Mahler, Inside the US: (240)-686-2222, International: +49-2103-29-11710
Media: Dr. Thomas Theuringer, +49-2103-29-11826
