It has been announced that Germany’s Bayer is to acquire Merck’s consumer healthcare business for $14.2bn.
It has been announced that Germany’s Bayer is to acquire Merck’s consumer healthcare business for $14.2bn.
Commenting on the transaction, Dr Thomas Hirse, a Partner at CMS Hasche Sigle, part of Europe’s largest law firm, CMS, said: “This acquisition must be seen in line with other recent strategic acquisitions of Bayer. Whereas this is the far most expensive of them and the second biggest in Bayer’s 150 years history (after the acquisition of Schering AG). Bayer has acquired Steigerwald, a German producer of products on vegetable basis only available on prescription (e.g. Iberogast), at the end of June 2013 and the takeover of Algeta, a Norwegian pharmaceutical company specialized in the drug development in the field of oncology which already licensed the lead drug Alpharadin to Bayer some years ago. The acquisition of Merck & Co.’s consumer healthcare business seems to fit perfectly into this strategy and Bayer’s existing portfolio of OTC-products (e.g. Aspirin, Alka Selzer and Rennie). As Marijn Dekkers states, this is a remarkable milestone in Bayer’s history which seems to push the healthcare branch of the Bayer group into a new level compared to their major rivals Novartis, Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi Aventis and makes it more competitive for future challenges.”
