WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced today that Monarch Transaction Corp., its wholly-owned subsidiary (“Monarch”), successfully completed the cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of common stock (together with the associated preferred stock purchase rights, the “Shares”) of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Inspire”), which expired at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on Thursday, May 12, 2011. Computershare, Inc., the Depositary for the tender offer, has indicated that, as of the expiration of the tender offer, approximately 72,544,987 Shares (excluding Shares subject to guarantees of delivery) had been validly tendered and not properly withdrawn from the tender offer, representing approximately 75.4 percent of the outstanding Shares on a fully diluted basis (as determined pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) among Monarch, Merck and Inspire, dated as of April 5, 2011). All Shares that were validly tendered and not properly withdrawn in the tender offer have been accepted for purchase and payment at the offer price of $5.00 per share in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes, and all holders of these Shares will be paid promptly in accordance with the terms of the offer.
