Germany's Merck offloads consumer health unit

In an industry where consumer health businesses seem to change hands as often as drugs and dollars, Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) was the latest drugmaker to be involved in a deal this week.

The company has signed an agreement to sell its global Consumer Health business to US consumer goods corporation Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) for approximately 3.4 billion euros ($4.2 billion).

Merck announced that the proceeds would support further deleveraging and increase flexibility to strengthen all three of its business sectors, including the pharma unit.