The offer period for UPS’s proposed acquisition of TNT Express has been extended until 28 February 2013 with the approval of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).
The extension is intended to give time for the deal to be cleared by the European Commission and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce – UPS said the required competition clearances will not be obtained by the expiry of the current offer period, which ends on 9 November 2012.
The new date, 28 February, has been set as the “long stop” date for the deal. In the event that the offer condition relating to competition clearance is not fulfilled by then and TNT Express opts to terminate the merger protocol, it will be entitled to receive a termination fee in the amount of 200m euros from UPS.
