Gillette Merger

On January 28th 2005 P&G announced the acquisition of Gillette. As per the deal, 0.975 shares of P&G common stock were exchanged for each share of Gillette. It accounted for 18% premium to Gillette shareholders based on the closing share prices on January 27, 2005. However, the approval by the shareholders of both Gillette and P&G was required. The merger was expected to get regulatory clearance by 2005. P&G planned to buy back $18-22 billion of its common stock in around 18 months immediately after the merger. The structure of deal came out to be 60% stock and 40% cash, although on paper it was a pure stock-swap.

The extra 18% premium paid by P&G for Gillette's stock looked like that it made 18% more difficult for the deal to pay dividends to stock holders. The problem was in buying back shares as P&G would have to borrow funds to finance this transaction. In light of this move, both the companies came under the scanner of credit agency for a possible downgrade. S&P considered all the rating for P&G under negative umbrella watch based on the likelihood that the deal would cause P&G to increase its leverage. As of September 30, 2004, P&G had debts of $21.4 billion and Gillette of $3.1 billion.

Gillette maintains 64 manufacturing facilities in 27 countries, and its products are sold in more than 200 countries and territories, with more than 60 percent of sales occurring outside the United States. For P&G the acquisition of Gillette was an opportunity for P&G to add a masculine dimension to overwhelmingly female-biased portfolio.