Germany's Merck sells pigments unit to China's GNMI for $721 million

The logo of German pharmaceuticals company Merck is seen in front of the company's headquarters in Darmstadt·Reuters
Reuters
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GDANSK (Reuters) -Germany's Merck KGaA agreed to sell its pigments unit to China's Global New Material International (GNMI) for 665 million euros ($721.46 million), the German diversified group said on Thursday.

Merck intends to use the proceeds from the deal to further strengthen its strategic core business and to boost materials for chip production in particular, the German group's CEO Belen Garijo said in a statement.

The deal, which is due to close in 2025, guarantees job security for employees in Germany as well as maintains the plant in Gernsheim until 2032.

The business, known as Surface Solutions, makes pigments for a pearlescent or metallic shine in coatings, plastics and cosmetics, whose value was earlier estimated at about 1 billion euros ($1.03 billion), Reuters reported citing sources in November 2022.

($1 = 0.9217 euros)

(Reporting by Andrey Sychev and Ludwig Burger, Editing by Miranda Murray)