	ecolab ecl starts bid for chemlawn chem ecolab inc said it has started its previously announced tender offer for all shares of chemlawn corp at dlrs each in a newspaper advertisement the company said the offer and withdrawal rights expire april unless extended the chemlawn board has approved the tender and a merger at the same price that is to follow ecolab said the offer is conditioned on receipt of at least shares chemlawn now has about mln shares outstanding ecolab said chemlawn has granted it a conditional option to buy all authorized but unissued and unreseved chemlawn shares at dlrs each the option is exercisable in the event that another party were to uire pct or more of chemlawn by means other than a tender offer for all shares at a higher price than ecolab is offering the company said if the merger agreement is terminated under certain circumstasnces it will be entitled to receive mln dlrs in damages from chemlawn ecolab said officers and directors of chemlawn have granted it options to uire an aggregate of chemlawn shares or about pct for the tender price again unless a higher tender were to be made by another party waste management inc wmx had originally made a hostile tender offer of dlrs per share for chemlawn which chemlawn rejected as inadequate on friday waste management said it would raise its bid to dlrs per share reuter 
