P&G completes acquisition of Merck KGaA’s OTC division

Procter & Gamble (P&G) has completed its acquisition of Merck KGaA’s Consumer Health business, in a move it hopes will help boost its flagging sales prospects. As part of the $4.2 billion deal, Merck KGaA’s Consumer Health president & CEO Uta Kemmerich-Keil will join P&G as leader of P&G Personal Healthcare International, an organization encompassing the newly combined OTC healthcare businesses in Europe, Latin America, and Asia/EMEA.
“This move improves P&G’s OTC geographic scale, brand portfolio and category footprint in the vast majority of the world’s top 15 OTC markets,” the company said in a statement. P&G has been facing slow sales growth and shrinking profit margins as pricing power for its older brands in the US declines, thanks mainly to online competition and cheaper store-brand products. The deal provides the US firm with several faster-growing brands such as Seven Seas and Neurobion, as well as greater exposure in the Latin American and Asian markets. Overall sales from Merck’s OTC business have grown 6% over the last two years, reaching €911m in 2017.