Danone (ENXTPA:BN) signed an agreement to acquire The WhiteWave Foods Company (NYSE:WWAV) for $10 billion on July 6, 2016. Under the terms of the agreement, Danone will pay $56.25 for each share, stock options, stock appreciation right, restricted stock unit award, restricted share and performance share unit award. The acquisition of WhiteWave is expected to be fully financed with debt for which Danone has received commitments from its banks. The deal will be terminated if not completed by January 6, 2017, subject to extension until July 5, 2017 for the purpose of obtaining regulatory clearances. In case of termination, The WhiteWave Foods will pay $310 million as the termination fee. Following the closing of the transaction, Danone and WhiteWave expect to combine their U.S. activities into a Public Benefit Corporation. After the closing of the transaction, Danone will submit to its shareholders a resolution appointing Gregg Engles, Chief Executive Officer of WhoteWave, to Danone's Board of Directors. The transaction is subject to the approval of WhiteWave’s shareholders, approval under Hart Scott Rodino Act, regulatory approvals including in the European Union and the United States and customary closing conditions. The transaction is not subject to a financing condition. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. Shareholders of Whitewave will meet on October 4, 2016 to approve the deal. The transaction is expected to be closed by the end of 2016. Danone had withdrawn its initial HSR Act notification, submitted to the US Department of Justice on August 1, 2016, in order to provide further information. Danone filed another notification on September 2, 2016 and US Department of Justice is expected to rule on the merger by October 3, 2016. As per announcement on September 26, 2016, the transaction has been delayed but is still expected to close by the end of 2016. On October 3, 2016, the United States Department of Justice issued a request for additional information, which extends the HSR waiting period until the 30th calendar day after the date that both parties substantially comply with the second request, unless the waiting period terminates earlier. As on October 25, 2016, Danone announced the successful launch of a €6.2 billion ($6.86 billion) multi-tranche bond issue. The amount raised will enable Danone to finance part of the acquisition. As on October 4, 2016, The WhiteWave Foods Company stockholders approved the transaction. As announced on November 19, 2016, the deal is expected to close in first quarter of 2017 as necessary regulatory approvals have not been obtained. The transaction is expected to be accretive to Danone's earnings within the first year of the deal’s closing. On December 16, 2016, the deal was approved by the European Commission. As announced on March 31, 2017, Danone reached an agreement with the antitrust division of the United States Department of Justice. Danone has decided to sell one of its U.S. dairy subsidiaries, Stonyfield, in the months following the closing of the acquisition of WhiteWave. As of April 3, 2017, The U.S. Department of Justice approved the acquisition, contingent upon Danone divesting its Stonyfield Farms business to an independent buyer. On April 5, 2017, WhiteWave reported that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had signed an order allowing the closing of the transaction. The merger is expected to occur within five business days from the date of the Court’s order of April 5, 2017. On April 6, 2017, each of WhiteWave and Danone elected to extend the long stop date under the merger agreement to allow for the closing. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acted as financial advisor to Goldman Sachs & Co., Joshua Cammaker, DongJu Song, Michael Benn, Adam Shapiro, Deborah Paul, Ilene Knable Gotts, Oliver Board, Kwon-Yong Jin, Bert J. Ma and Benjamin S. Arfa. of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP acted as legal advisors and Alex Stern, Maxence de Gennaro, Stephane Droulers, Isabelle Xoual, Evan Russo and Tomer Perry of Lazard Ltd. acted as financial advisor for Danone and Stephen Arcano, Timothy M. Fesenmyer, Marc Gerber, Nancy Rubin, Daniela Badiola, David Reamer, Regina Olshan, David Rievman and Michael Hong of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP acted as legal advisors and David Eisman, Peter Brundage, Tim Ingrassia and Andy Bowman ofThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. acted as financial advisor for The WhiteWave Foods Company, with a fee of $44 million. Benjamin Kanovitch, Marc Pittie, Oliver Billard, Yves Rutschmann and Clemence Fallet of Bredin Prat acted as legal advisors to Danone. Fabien Communier and Gwenaël Pain-Blavec of Herbert Smith Paris LLP acted as legal advisor for Danone. Raphaël Richard, Roman Picherack, François Jubin, Philippe Herbelin, Séverin Robillard, Colin Chang, Max Turner, Tatiana Uskova, Alexandre Ippolito, Charline Schmit, Louis de Longeaux, Tom O'Neill, Mark Dickinson, Gabrielle Wong, Christopher Lapp, Christelle Salmon Lataste, Fabien Communier and Églantine Lioret of White & Case advised the banks for the financing by Danone. Innisfree M&A Inc. acted as the information agent for WhiteWave, with a fee of $25,000. Matthew Gross of Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher acted as public relations advisor for Danone. Rothschild Inc. acted as financial advisor for The WhiteWave Foods Company. Dechert LLP acted as legal advisor for WhiteWave Foods Company. Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to The Whitewave Foods Company. Danone (ENXTPA:BN) completed the acquisition of The WhiteWave Foods Company (NYSE:WWAV) on April 12, 2017. WhiteWave will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Danone and WhiteWave will now combine their activities in North America to operate as a Strategic Business Unit, named "DanoneWave". The combination will include Danone Dairy's and WhiteWave's current North American businesses under the leadership of Lorna Davis, who has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the combined entity.