In about one year, Bayer AG's
new CEO will be Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.'s (NYSE:TMO) Marijn Dekkers. He has deal experience on a large scale, having led Thermo Electron Corp.'s $10.6 billion acquisition of Fisher Scientific International in 2006. Dekkers (pictured) will replace Werner Wenning, who held the post since 2002 and has extended his service contract by eight months to Sept. 30, 2010.
Dekkers, who holds both Dutch and U.S. citizenship, is currently president and chief executive of U.S. laboratory equipment manufacturer Thermo Fisher. Before leading the merger that created the company, Dekkers was president and CEO of Thermo Electron, where he led a restructuring that included divestitures and, of course, targeted acquisitions.
In June, as we tracked an
animal health M&A trend, Germany's Bayer was mentioned as possibly buying Schering-Plough Corp.'s (NYSE:SGP) animal health business, Intervet. Another possible target is late-stage oncology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:REGN), which has a similar specialization to Medarex Inc., which was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) for $2.4 billion.
Regeneron has
worked with Bayer Healthcare on certain Phase 3 studies. It just so happens that Dekkers will also become CEO of Bayer HealthCare, succeeding Arthur Higgins, who decided to leave the company during the first half of 2010 for personal reasons.
Also, on April 30, 2010, CFO Klaus Kühn will take early retirement at 58 years old. Werner Baumann, currently a member of both the board and executive committee of Bayer HealthCare, will succeed him. Bloomberg News
quoted an analyst saying that Baumann was very involved in the Bayer Schering Pharma AG integration and it was probably a deciding factor in choosing him as CFO. The Bayer Schering unit recently
signed an $800 million licensing pact for Algeta ASA's lead cancer drug Alpharadin.
At Thermo Fisher, EVP and chief operating officer Marc Casper will
replace Dekkers as president and CEO, effective Oct. 15. -
Baz HiralalSee the Bayer announcement
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