Merck KGaA drops divisional brands

Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) on Wednesday said it is eliminating its divisional brands Merck Serono and Merck Millipore, which will now uniformly operate under the name Merck outside of the USA and Canada, and has adopted a new company logo.

Karl-Ludwig Kley, chief executive, said: "Merck has fundamentally changed over the past ten years. The complete overhaul of our brand identity is to communicate this new direction vis-à-vis our customers, partners and applicants. We want to be recognizable and remain visible as Merck worldwide so as to strengthen our well-known brand name. For this we have deliberately rid ourselves of outdated features and will be focusing on a young and eye-catching image."

Going ahead, Merck Serono will operate as the biopharmaceutical business of Merck, and Merck Millipore as the life science business of Merck, it said in a statement. In the USA and Canada, pharma giant Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK) holds the rights to the Merck name.