Quest Merger Effort May Go Past Deadline
Bloomberg News
HEALTH
*
Quest Diagnostics Inc. and Unilab Corp. said discussions with U.S. antitrust enforcers to settle concerns their combination would hurt competition may go past the Sept. 30 expiration of their merger agreement.
Quest offered to buy Tarzana-based Unilab for $1.1 billion in cash or stock in April, and the Federal Trade Commission has twice requested information on the purchase.
The companies said they were in negotiations to extend the merger agreement past the expiration date.
Shares of Teterboro, N.J.-based Quest fell 9 cents to $58.22 in NYSE trading. Shares of Unilab rose 38 cents to $18.83 on Nasdaq.
