Germany's Merck KGaA sees emerging markets as bigger earnings driver than Europe

Print 02 April 2015
EJ Lane / FeircePharmaAsia

Germany's Merck KGaA now considers the world's emerging markets as a group, with China a major driver, to be a greater revenue-producer than Europe, unit CEO Bernd Reckmann said in an interview.

The head of the company's life science and performance materials unit told China's Global Times that even as the nation's economy has become a more normal one, he sees the country providing continued double-digit growth for the company.

The emerging markets that include Latin America and all of Asia except Japan provided 38% of the company's total revenue of $12.5 billion last year, while Europe provided 35%, the company said.

Reckmann said China's slower rate of growth would be more than offset by its increasing healthcare needs and its efforts to encourage more innovation. Merck KGaA, he said, has added to its own investment and manufacturing plants in China, the latest a $104.6 million facility expected to be operational in 2017 to produce drugs on the country's list of those considered essential.

E. Allan Gabor, president and CEO of Merck Serono China, told the Global Times he still considered China a good investment climate, particularly for companies eyeing long-term development.

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