JLL Partners and PharmaNet had previously announced that they had reached a definitive merger agreement for PDGI Acquisition to acquire PharmaNet. JLL PharmaNet Holdings and PDGI Acquisition are affiliates of JLL Partners Fund V and JLL Partners Fund VI, each of which is a private equity investment fund managed by JLL.
The board of directors of PharmaNet has unanimously, by the vote of the directors present, approved and declared advisable the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby, including the offer; and resolved to recommend that holders of shares of PharmaNet common stock accept the offer and tender their shares in the offer.
The tender offer, if successful, will be followed by a second-step merger in which any shares of PharmaNet not tendered into the offer will be converted into the right to receive the same per share consideration paid to PharmaNet stockholders in the tender offer.
Unless the tender offer is extended, the tender offer and any withdrawal rights to which PharmaNet’s stockholders may be entitled will expire on March 12, 2009. Following the acceptance for payment of shares in the tender offer and completion of the transactions contemplated in the merger agreement, PharmaNet will become a wholly owned subsidiary of JLL PharmaNet Holdings.