Merck Essay
A handful of consumer and healthcare companies including Bayer AG and Novartis are exploring a deal for Merck & Co Inc's consumer healthcare business, as they seek to gain scale in a fragmented industry, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC and Procter & Gamble Co are also among the parties that have held discussions with Merck about buying the unit, best known for Coppertone sunscreen and Claritin allergy medicine, the sources said this week.
The Merck business, which also includes Dr. Scholl's foot care and other consumer products, could be worth $10 billion to $12 billion in a potential sale, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private.
Despite the large …show more content…
Merck, the second-largest U.S. drugmaker after Pfizer Inc, is being advised by Morgan Stanley on the process, Reuters reported last month.
FRAGMENTED INDUSTRY
Johnson & Johnson is the biggest player in the $200 billion global consumer health industry, with about 4 percent of the market. Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi SA are the other major players, each with a market share of more than 2 percent.
Merck, however, is relatively small with around 1 percent of the market, and has said in the past that it views its consumer business as sub-scale.
Other large companies with consumer healthcare divisions, such as Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi, have competing products to Merck and are seen as unlikely buyers. Sanofi's Allegra allergy medication and Johnson and Johnson's Zyrtec may overlap with Merck's Claritin brand.
GSK is not pursuing the Merck business either, given its current low appetite for deals and the poor fit between the firms' consumer health portfolios, according to one person familiar with the matter. Merck's Claritin allergy franchise would also overlap with GSK's Flonase nasal spray, the person
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC and Procter & Gamble Co are also among the parties that have held discussions with Merck about buying the unit, best known for Coppertone sunscreen and Claritin allergy medicine, the sources said this week.
The Merck business, which also includes Dr. Scholl's foot care and other consumer products, could be worth $10 billion to $12 billion in a potential sale, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private.
Despite the large …show more content…
Merck, the second-largest U.S. drugmaker after Pfizer Inc, is being advised by Morgan Stanley on the process, Reuters reported last month.
FRAGMENTED INDUSTRY
Johnson & Johnson is the biggest player in the $200 billion global consumer health industry, with about 4 percent of the market. Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi SA are the other major players, each with a market share of more than 2 percent.
Merck, however, is relatively small with around 1 percent of the market, and has said in the past that it views its consumer business as sub-scale.
Other large companies with consumer healthcare divisions, such as Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi, have competing products to Merck and are seen as unlikely buyers. Sanofi's Allegra allergy medication and Johnson and Johnson's Zyrtec may overlap with Merck's Claritin brand.
GSK is not pursuing the Merck business either, given its current low appetite for deals and the poor fit between the firms' consumer health portfolios, according to one person familiar with the matter. Merck's Claritin allergy franchise would also overlap with GSK's Flonase nasal spray, the person