The combination of Merck and GNMI will strengthen their market position and create better prospects for employees and customers.
Merck has recently announced that it has signed an agreement to sell its Surface Solutions business unit to Global New Material International Holdings for €665 million, in order to further strengthen its strategic core businesses. The Surface Solutions division supplies pigments for coatings, while GNMI is a pearlescent pigment producer with a deep expertise in effect pigments and mica-based products.
“The divestiture of the Surface Solutions business unit will further sharpen our focus on high-tech applications in Electronics, such as driving the development of next-generation chips as an integrated solutions provider for our semiconductor customers. GNMI and our Surface Solutions business will join forces and combine their strengths to form an even stronger team, delivering excellence in the pigments industry,” has stated Belén Garijo, the Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck.
“The combination of Surface Solutions and GNMI will strengthen the competitiveness of the business, thus providing better prospects for employees and customers. At the same time, this transaction gives us the opportunity to focus even more intensively on the semiconductor and display industries within Electronics,” has added Kai Beckmann, a member of the Executive Board of Merck.
In order to complete the sale, both companies will form a team to better define the strengths of both businesses. Additionally, GNMI is planning for the Surface Solutions division of Merck to have three regional headquarters in Germany, the United States of America and Asia, while maintaining its current manufacturing facilities in Gernsheim (Germany), Onahama (Japan) and Savannah (U.S.A.). Merck will retain ownership of the Gernsheim site under a long-term lease with GNMI. The transaction is expected to close during 2025 and is subject to regulatory approvals and satisfaction of certain other customary closing conditions.
“Merck’s Surface Solutions unit and GNMI share the philosophy of growing a customer-centric business. Our activities are highly complementary in terms of products, expertise and regional footprint. By joining forces, we will be excellently positioned to jointly drive growth in a very dynamic market segment. The combined businesses will provide even more customer proximity with a presence in every region along with an even broader product portfolio that stands for quality and reliability. We are impressed by the commitment, experience and expertise of Surface Solutions’ employees and are already looking forward to welcoming our future colleagues to the company. The combination will provide attractive long-term prospects for career development, including job guarantees for employees in Germany and a site guarantee for Gernsheim until 2032. This is a clear sign of how much we value the business and its employees,” has concluded Ertian Su, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of GNMI.