Germany's Merck KGaA taking over Molteni Pharma of Italy

Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, is to acquire a major stake in thenewly-established Molteni Pharma SpA, a privately-owned firm based in Florence, Italy. Molteni was established out of a recent de-merger of its parent company, L Molteni. The deal is due to close by the end of this year, and the unit will be renamed Merck Pharma SpA. Financial details have not been disclosed.

Merck says that it will immediately take over full management responsibility of this pharmaceutical business and intends to acquire the remaining shares "within the next years." Heribert Mauer, who is to become chief executive of the new firm, claimed that buying Molteni gives Merck "immediate access to the Italian pharmaceuticals marketplace," which is the fifth-largest globally.

By this acquisition, Merck says that it will also benefit immediately from "a small and flexible marketing and sales organization with a lean overhead structure." Most interestingly, Molteni's main area of expertise lies in type 2 diabetes, which is of high strategic importance for Merck, given its Glucophage (metformin) franchise and its recently-signed co-marketing deal with Novartis for Starlix (nateglinide; Marketletter August 14).