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Merck set to buy Pfizer's Generics Arm for $ 65m
The Economic Times : August 27, 2004
Merck KGaA has agreed to buy Pfizer's Scandinavian generic drugs unit NM Pharma,
the German Company said, as it moves to bolster its struggling pharmaceuticals
business.
Merck said it would pay 53.8 million euros ($65 million), for 90 percent of
Stockholm-based NM in a deal that would make it the leader in a Scandinavian
generics market it estimated at 600 million euros.
NM had sales of 39.1 million euros in 2003 and the deal is subject regulatory
approvals, Merck said in a statement.
Merck's pharmaceutical business is relying heavily on generics - copies of
medicines developed by other companies-to tide it over in a lean period for its
prescription drugs until sales of colorectal cancer treatment Erbitux gather
steam. For Pfizer, the disposal is the second of its kind in just over a week.
On August 17, Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals said it had agreed to buy Pfizer's
Italian generics drug marketing company for about 70 million euros.
A Merck spokeswoman said the company would look for more acquisitions, with an
emphasis on pharmaceuticals, though she did not rule out acquisitions in
chemicals.
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