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Reckitt shares soar on takeover
Shares in Reckitt Benckiser rose 31p to 3,449p at one stage yesterday before closing 114p lower at 3,436p after EU competition watchdogs gave the green light to its takeover of Durex condoms maker SSL. The Cillit Bang to Nurofen painkiller group is disposing of SSL’s brands for mouth pain relief products in the UK and Ireland to ease regulator concerns. Reckitt announced the £2.54bn takeover in July. The decision to allow the takeover is conditional upon Reckitt Benckiser’s commitments to divest SSL’s brands for mouth pain relief products in the UK and Ireland, where the merged entity would have had a very strong market position.