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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. might make a play for one of the animal-health businesses that Merck & Co. Inc. now plans to divest.
A spokeswoman for New Jersey-based Merck told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that the company plans to sell one of the two animal-health divisions it controls after its purchase of Schering-Plough Corp.
Merck has a 50-50 joint venture in animal health with France-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, called Merial, which has $2.6 billion in annual sales, the Journal reported. New Jersey-based Schering-Plough owns the Intervet animal-health business, which has nearly $3 billion in annual sales.
Animal health products account for about 10 percent of Lilly revenue. The company has made animal-health acquisitions in each of the past two years.
On May 29, Lilly CEO John Lechleiter reiterated to Dow Jones Newswires his interest in acquiring more animal-health business and acknowledging that the Merck assets are a potential target.
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