Deal Successfully Closed and Roche Consumer Health Business Now Integrated
LEVERKUSEN, Germany, Jan. 4 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Bayer has closed the acquisition of Roche Consumer Health. From January onwards, the Roche Consumer Health business will become part of the Bayer HealthCare Consumer Care Division, turning Bayer into a leading global over-the-counter (OTC) consumer health organization. The transaction includes the global business of Roche Consumer Health and includes the five Roche Consumer Health production sites in Grenzach (Germany), Gaillard (France), Pilar (Argentinia), Casablanca (Morocco), and Jakarta (Indonesia).
Following the merger, Bayer now ranks among the top three OTC consumer health organizations in the world. ''Our vision is to become the best consumer health and wellness company. We know that this is an ambitious, but realistic aspiration,'' explains Gary S. Balkema, President Consumer Care, adding, ''As a combined company, we have many trusted brands such as Aspirin(R), Aleve(R), Rennie(R), Alka-Seltzer(R), Bepanthen(R), Canesten(R), Supradyn(R) and One-A-Day(R) which provide a strong foundation for growth in the major OTC segments.''
Bayer HealthCare Consumer Care is now present in more than 120 countries and the acquisition has made the division a leader in Europe, has extended its top position in Latin America and has reinforced the company's business in US and Asia-Pacific.
The acquisition will offer further growth opportunities, which enable the Bayer HealthCare Consumer Care Division to continue to outpace OTC market growth. Balkema continues, ''The combination of the two organizations results in a commercial entity that is more successful than the sum of its parts. That is why we will be a partner of choice for future OTC opportunities such as Rx/OTC switches, licensing, and joint ventures.''
About Bayer HealthCare AG
Bayer HealthCare AG, a subgroup of Bayer AG with sales of approximately 8.9 billion Euro in 2003, is one of the world's leading, innovative companies in the health care and medical products industry.
The company combines the global activities of the divisions Animal Health, Biological Products, Consumer Care, Diagnostics Professional Testing Systems and Diagnostics Self Testing Systems and Pharmaceuticals. 34,600 people are employed by Bayer HealthCare worldwide.
Our aim is to discover and manufacture innovative products that will improve human and animal health worldwide. Our products enhance well-being and quality of life by diagnosing, preventing and treating disease.
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our public reports filed with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 20-F). The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.
For more information, please contact: Helmut Schafers Tel: +49-214-30-58308 Email: helmut.schaefers@bayerhealthcare.com
Bayer (China) LimitedCONTACT: Helmut Schafers of Bayer Limited, +49-214-30-58308helmut.schaefers@bayerhealthcare.com
