CSL, Talecris Call Off $3.1 Billion Merger Amid FTC Objections

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Australia's CSL Ltd. (CSL.AU) and North Carolina-based Talecris Biotherapeutics Inc. said they terminated their agreement for CSL to acquire Talecris for $3.1 billion.

The move comes nearly two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission said it intended to block the deal because it would shrink an already reduced roster of plasma competitors to four from five. A complaint the agency filed in court noted the transaction would leave only industry leader Baxter International Inc. (BAX) as a major rival to the proposed combined company in the U.S.

CSL Chief Executive Brian McNamee said the company disagreed with the FTC, but its board said entering into a battle with the agency was not in the best interests of stakeholders.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on its Web site Monday that U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly temporarily restrained CSL from consummating the deal while the FTC prepared its case.

CSL, the world's second-largest plasma products maker, will pay Talecris a $75 million breakup fee, and the plasma-supply contract the companies made in connection with the merger agreement will remain in effect.

CSL reached a deal last August to buy Talecris, which would have boosted its share of the $15 billion-a-year global plasma therapeutics market. Talecris, owned by private-equity firms Cerberus Partners and Tribeca Investment Partners, is the third-largest producer of plasma medicines in the U.S., behind CSL and market leader Baxter. The three companies control 83% of the U.S. market.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; [e-mail]