Merck KGaA’s Acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich Approved by Anti-Trust Regulators
Following a divestiture of certain assets in Europe, the acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich by Merck KGaA will be complete.
Merck KGaA announced on Aug. 11, 2015 that its acquisition of life-science company Sigma-Aldrich is complete, following an outstanding anti-trust approval from Brazil’s Council for Economic Defense. The acquisition will not totally be complete, however, until Merck and Sigma-Aldrich divest parts of Sigma-Aldrich’s solvents and inorganics business in Europe. The European Commission announced its conditional approval of the transaction on June 15, 2015.
The acquisition, announced on Sept. 22, 2014, merges the complementary businesses of offerings of both companies. Sigma-Aldrich’s business has grown 8%, according to a second-quarter Merck KGaA earnings call, and its biologics segment is growing at double-digit rates. Similarly, Merck’s Udit Batra, CEO and president of Merck Life Sciences, said that Merck’s growth in its process solutions segment is also enjoying double-digit growth rates. Sigma’s research and applied segments “are growing rather nicely,” Batra added during the call, which he said was “one of the largest rationales for the deal.”
Sources:
Merck KGaA
SeekingAlpha
