Life science supply companies Invitrogen Corp. and Applied Biosystems Inc. (ABI) announced today (Nov. 11) that their impending merger has cleared its final regulatory hurdle, and that the joining of the two companies will be finalized by the end of next week.

In a last step on the march towards merger, the two companies received approval from the European Commission. The companies had already received antitrust clearance from the US government.

Now all that remains to be done is for every ABI shareholder to specify in writing how they'll receive compensation for their ABI shares - cash, shares in the new company, or a mixture - by the end of business next Wednesday.

Both companies expect the merger to be finalized by Friday (Nov. 21).