Merck Agrees to $1 Billion Investment in Germany

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Merck KGaA (NYSE:MRK) (Darmstadt, Germany) is committing its pharmaceutical future to its Darmstadt headquarters in Germany with a commitment to invest 1 billion euro ($1.12 billion) there over the next six years.

Merck management and the workers' union, the Joint Works Council, also agreed to extend the employment guarantee for 11,000 employees at Darmstadt until the end of 2025. Merck will guarantee significant funding in the site, including the construction of a new membrane plant there. Membranes are used, among other things, in various types of filters, for instance in biopharmaceutical production. It will also construct a new Vocational and Advanced Training Centre at the site. The company has more than 500 apprentices in 22 vocational training occupations. Darmstadt is Merck's leading global research and development (R&D) location.

"We believe in the tremendous potential of the Darmstadt site," commented Kai Beckmann, chief executive officer performance materials and Merck executive board member responsible for the Darmstadt site. "There is no other Merck site in the world that has so much expertise combined at one location. With our investment commitment, we are permitting additional growth and are creating employment perspectives for tomorrow and beyond. Our aim is to do the right things today in order to ensure that we remain successful as a company tomorrow. Together with the employee representatives, we want to support the changes in our three business sectors here at the Darmstadt site in the best possible way."

Michael Fletterich, chairman of the Works Council of Merck KGaA, added: "We conducted intensive negotiations and in some cases had strong debates. Ultimately, with the site agreement we achieved a good outcome that benefits employees and sustainably strengthens the future viability of the site."

The new membrane plant will be constructed at the existing Bio-pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences Complex, and will specialise in producing PVDF Membranes for use in general filtration and sample preparation applications in the pharmaceutical and med-tech industry. Industrial Info is tracking the project, which will cost an estimated 150 million euro ($168 million) and will be completed at the end of 2022.

Separately, Merck has also committed to spending 150 million euro ($168 million) at its manufacturing site at Aubonne, Switzerland, to expand capacity for its biotech medicines. The new building will be dedicated to flagship Merck biotech medicines including fertility treatment Gonal-f, newly launched therapies such as cancer drug Bavencio and potential future products currently in clinical development such as cancer investigational treatment M7824 (bintrafusp alfa*).

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.