Merck KGaA sells South African manufacturing unit
pharmafile | May 10, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Merck KGaA, Merck Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Merck South AfricaÂ
Merck South Africa, a subsidiary of Germany’s Merck KGaA, has sold its manufacturing to a local private equity firm as part of its ongoing plan to streamline production at facilities around the world.
Merck Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (MPM) has been sold to a company controlled by Nkunzi Investment Holdings, a South African investment firm which already has a portfolio of businesses including a fine chemicals unit.
The existing management team at MPM and all employees are being transferred to the new company, called Nkunzi Pharmaceuticals, which officially began trading on 3 May. A second investment company called Omame also has a stake in the new drugmaker.
Merck’s manufacturing operations in South Africa are centred on its facility in Wadeville, Gauteng, which focuses on production of prescription pharmaceutical and consumer health products for the local region, as well as carrying out contract manufacturing for other companies. The plant employs around 300 staff.
Merck SA said it has been operating in South Africa for 40 years and now has annual sales of around $100 million a year. It said it will continue to focus and expand its core businesses in the region with its Merck Serono and Consumer Health care divisions as well as its chemical activities.
The group’s chairman, Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, told the Business Day newspaper just ahead of the announcement that that the company was planning to refocus its operations in Africa and the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
At the time he downplayed South Africa’s role as a production hub, saying that the company would focus instead on using the country as a base for sales and marketing efforts across sub-Saharan Africa.
Merck SA’s managing director Klaus Boehm says the company is happy to have concluded the deal with a reputable partner such as Nkunzi and looks forward to a mutually beneficial relationship in the future.
Phil Taylor
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