Bayer AG is in exclusive talks to acquire Merck & Co’s consumer business and is prepared to pay about US$14 billion for the division, people with knowledge of the matter said.
An announcement is likely to come in the next few days, the sources said, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. While the two sides have agreed to a deal in principle, they are still working out details and have not formally reached an agreement, the sources said. The terms would include cash and an exchange of pharmaceutical assets, possibly structured as a joint venture, they added.
A deal would strengthen Merck’s core drug business while helping Bayer to beef up its consumer products line by adding brands including Claritin allergy relief products, sources said. It would be similar to other recent pharmaceutical transactions, in which companies have sold weaker business lines and added to areas where they are more competitive, they added.
WATCHING, WAITING
Companies including Reckitt Benckiser PLC, Procter & Gamble Co and Sanofi SA had made bids for Merck’s over-the-counter business.
Reckitt said it was withdrawing from talks because the unit had become too expensive.
Still, if Bayer and Merck do not complete a deal, previous bidders and other potential suitors would be free to reconsider the asset.
Merck spokesman Steve Cragle said in a telephone interview that he had no comment. Bayer spokesman Guenter Forneck also declined to comment.
When Merck, based in Whitehouse, New Jersey, first put the maker of Claritin allergy medicine and Coppertone sunblock up for sale, people familiar with the matter expected it to fetch about US$10 billion.
MOVERS, SHAKERS
Other companies in the sector are reworking their businesses as well.
Last month, GlaxoSmithKline PLC sold its oncology portfolio to Novartis AG for US$14.5 billion. Novartis sold Glaxo its vaccines business for US$5.25 billion and sold its animal-health unit to Eli Lilly & Co for US$5.4 billion.
Merck shares rose 1.8 percent to US$59.62 at the close in New York on Thursday, their highest level since January 2008. Bayer, based in Leverkusen, Germany, did not trade on Thursday because of a holiday in Europe.
The company’s US American depositary shares gained less than 1 percent to US$139.66.
Bayer’s over-the-counter portfolio is anchored by the iconic analgesic aspirin. It is the third-biggest company in over-the-counter drugs by sales, behind Johnson & Johnson and Glaxo, according to a ranking compiled by Glaxo for the announcement of its deal with Novartis.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last