International law firm McDermott Will & Emery represented Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, in the entry of a definitive agreement to acquire Exelead, a biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that specializes in complex injectable formulations, for US $780 million. This transaction will enhance Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s more than 20 years of experience producing lipids, one of the critical components for the formulation of mRNA therapeutics including COVID-19 vaccines as well as its mRNA manufacturing capabilities.

• The transaction was announced on January 6, 2022 and is expected to close in Q1 2022 subject to regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions.
• The McDermott team was led by Byron Kalogerou, Jennifer Bock and Sheldon Hughes and included Rebecca Dufur, Michael Willey, Michael Siekman, Jed Gordon, Hala Mourad, Anisa Mohanty, Brian Malkin, Daniel Doron, Abigail Kagan, Michael Bruno, Keith Hagan, Jeffery Holdvogt, Ray Jacobsen, Hendrik Viaene, Ty Carson, Karolien Van Der Putten, David Wolff, Garrett Kurtzweil, David Levine, Fran Forte, Todd McClelland, David Gacioch, Ettore Scandale and Massimiliano Moruzzi.
• The Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in-house legal team counsel was led by Rose Brounts, Head of Legal M&A, Post-Merger Integration and Finance and Alexander Krueger, Corporate Counsel, Legal – M&A, Post-Merger Integration and Finance.
• Read Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s press release.

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Around 58,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2020, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of € 17.5 billion in 66 countries.

The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark “Merck” internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Electronics. Since its founding in 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company’s technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company.

McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. Our team works seamlessly across practices, industries and more than 20 locations to deliver highly effective—and often unexpected—solutions that propel success. More than 1,200 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve.