Vontobel decides not to pursue the exchange offer for BB Biotech AG due to a change of practice by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration

 

In its press release of 13 July 2012, the Vontobel Group informed the public that it had notified the Board of Directors of BB Biotech AG ('BB Biotech') in January 2012 that it was, in principle, willing to make a public exchange offer to shareholders under which their shares of BB Biotech would be exchanged for shares of an investment fund. The Board of Directors of BB Biotech immediately rejected the offer. At the end of October 2012, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) decided on a change of practice regarding the taxation of public exchange offers in the case of investment companies. The new practice gives rise to a withholding tax liability or income tax liability on the part of the tendering shareholders, thus making the acceptance of this type of offer financially unattractive. As a result of this change in the tax framework, the Vontobel Group no longer considers an exchange offer to be a sensible option from the perspective of BB Biotech shareholders and has therefore decided to withdraw the original proposal it made to the Board of Directors of BB Biotech.

              

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