BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) has declared its takeover of Swiss specialty chemicals producer Ciba (Basel / Switzerland; www.cibasc.com) unconditional, after securing the required two-thirds majority of shares in the offer. The German group said its ownership of Ciba had increased to 68.1% at the end of the offer period on 28 October.

“With this interim result, we have come a significant step closer to our planned acquisition of Ciba,” said Jürgen Hambrecht, BASF’s chairman. Remaining Ciba shareholders have been given an additional acceptance period until 14 November to accept the CHF 50.00 (EUR 33.37) cash offer. BASF said it plans to delist the Ciba stock following the acquisition.