The completion follows last week’s approval from the European Commission, which was the final antitrust condition required to close the Sigma-Aldrich transaction. Following the acquisition, Merck will have around 50,000 employees in 67 countries, working at 72 manufacturing sites worldwide. Combined pro forma full-year life science sales amounted to € 4.6 billion in 2014. As announced on publication of the results for the third quarter of 2015 on November 12, Merck expects sales to amount to between € 12.6 billion and € 12.8 billion in 2015.
“The acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich marks the culmination of almost a decade of transformation, further affirming that Merck is a leading science and technology company,” said Karl-Ludwig Kley, CEO and Chairman of Merck. “We’re now a leading player in the $ 130 billion global life science industry and together with our two other growth platforms Healthcare and Performance Materials, Merck is set to tackle global challenges that will fundamentally change the world in which we live.”

Merck has made acquisitions and divestments totalling € 38 billion in the past decade, turning the former pharma and chemicals company into a science and technology company with three businesses in healthcare, life science and performance materials that serve as platforms to compete in their markets and drive innovations in these industries.

With the acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich, Merck will be able to serve life science customers around the world with a highly attractive set of established brands such as SAFC and BioReliance, in addition to Millipore and Milli-Q, as well as an efficient supply chain that can support the delivery of more than 300,000 products. The company will cover every step of the biotech production chain, creating a complete end-to-end workflow with enhanced customer service, a simplified customer interface and a leading distribution platform.

“This is a significant milestone in Merck’s long-term strategy to invest in life science,” said Bernd Reckmann, Member of the Executive Board in charge of Merck’s Life Science and Performance Materials business sectors. “The acquisition of Millipore in 2010 was the first major step in that journey and with the completion of the Sigma-Aldrich acquisition, we will take a quantum leap toward securing our competitive position in that space.”

To ensure a smooth integration, Merck has made significant progress on integration planning for the new business, which will be named Merck all across the world, except for the U.S. and Canada, where the business will be named MilliporeSigma. The future organization will tap into the industry-leading talent of both legacy organizations, with a focus on promoting customer centricity, continuous innovation and strengthened capabilities.

“With the acquisition complete, we can now start tackling the challenge of solving the toughest problems in life science by collaborating with the global scientific community and helping to increase access to healthcare. We are excited to begin leveraging the proven operational excellence of our organizations to provide a growing customer base with more efficient and innovative solutions,” said Udit Batra, President and CEO of the life science business of Merck. “We’ve designed the new organization to fully tap into our combined capabilities, particularly in integrated supply chain operations, information technology and e-commerce.”

Merck has created Strategic Marketing & Innovation teams (SMIs) to promote and deliver innovation tailored to its life science customers’ needs. Organized around three customer segments, these teams will be responsible for defining customer segment strategy, product portfolio and roadmap and product value propositions. The new business has Commercial Areas which are managed by geography to leverage regional and local expertise. The Commercial Areas are responsible for marketing, sales as well as customer and dealer relationships.

Sigma-Aldrich’s SAFC Commercial business, excluding the SAFC Hitech business, will be part of Merck’s Life Science business sector. The SAFC Hitech business will be integrated into Merck’s Performance Materials business and will operate as part of its Integrated Circuits business unit. SAFC Hitech and Merck’s Performance Materials businesses offer complementary technologies, making these two businesses a natural fit.