Merck, a science and technology company, signed an agreement to sell its global surface solutions business unit to Global New Material International Holdings Ltd. for € 665 million. Merck intends to use the net proceeds from the divestment to further strengthen its strategic core businesses.
“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,” said Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck. Garijo added, “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”.
“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,” added Kai Beckmann, Member of the Executive Board of Merck and CEO Electronics.
“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,” said Ertian Su, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GNMI.
Su added, “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”.
As per the press release, surface solutions offers pigment solutions used in coating, industrial and cosmetic applications. The business unit generated sales of € 411 million in 2023. Roughly 1,200 employees, approximately 700 of whom are based in Germany, are to be transferred to GNMI as part of the transaction.
