Merck responds to European Commission’s allegation of merger violations

Merck has confirmed receipt of a Statement of Objections from the European Commission (EC) related to a packaging technology in development by Sigma-Aldrich, at the time it was acquired in 2015. The company will review the information and respond in due course.

The EC has sent a Statement of Objections to Merck and Sigma-Aldrich alleging they breached EU merger rules by providing incorrect or misleading information, according to a press release on the EC’s website. Current investigations are limited to the assessment of breaches of the EU merger procedural rules and will not impact the earlier decisions approving the merger, which remains effective.

“We need companies to work with us to ensure fast and predictable merger control, to the benefit of both companies and consumers,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy. “But we can only do our job well if we can rely on cooperation from the companies concerned — they must obtain our approval before they implement their transactions and the information they supply us must be correct and complete.”

The Commission’s preliminary conclusion, of which Merck and Sigma-Aldrich have been informed, is that the companies provided incorrect or misleading information in the context of Merck's acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich. Notification for the transaction was received by the EC on 21 April 2015 and it was cleared on 15 June 2015, on the condition that the parties divest certain Sigma-Aldrich assets to address concerns in relation to specific laboratory chemicals.

It is an alleged failure to provide the Commission with important information about an innovation project with relevance for certain laboratory chemicals that is central to the preliminary conclusion outcome.

If the Commission were to conclude that Merck and Sigma-Aldrich intentionally or negligently supplied incorrect or misleading information, it could impose a fine of up to 1% of the companies' annual worldwide turnover.

In a statement, Merck confirmed it will review the information provided by the EC and provide its written response in due course. It stated it has acted in good faith since the anti-trust process has begun, and is committed to a constructive dialogue with the EC.

Merck is confident this issue will be resolved in a satisfactory manner. As this process is ongoing, the company has no further comment at this time.