Bayer's acquisition of Roche's consumer health business approved
The European Commission has approved, subject to minor conditions, Bayer AG's plans to acquire the Consumer Health activities of the Roche group, Switzerland. Bayer plans to take over Roche's global business in prescription-free medicines - with the exception of Japan - and to integrate it into the Consumer Care Division of its subgroup Bayer HealthCare AG. The acquisition comprises Roche's OTC (over the counter) business in consumer brands such as "Rennie" and "Bepanthen", vitamins and nutritional supplements. The transaction represents a volume of EUR 2.38 billion, and closing is expected by the turn of the year 2004/2005.
As a condition of its approval, the European Commission requires Bayer to divest the regional rights to three Roche products which together represent sales of EUR 2.25 million annually, or 0.23 percent of the sales volume being transferred under the acquisition. The products affected are the analgesics Aspro and Aspro C in Austria and the antifungals Desenex and Caldesene in Ireland.
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