Germany's Merck to acquire Dolisos?

Merck KGaA is thought to be considering a bid for French homeopathicdrugs manufacturer Dolisos. The problem-plagued company, which was acquired by Pierre Fabre during 1998, has been loss-making for some 10 years, during which time it has had three owners.

Dolisos is currently 86%-owned by BioMerieux-Pierre Fabre and the latter has denied that discussions with Merck, or anyone else, are taking place regarding a possible sale of the company. However, a spokesman for Merck said that, along with other firms, it had been looking at the company, with both the Merck parent group and French subsidiary Merck-Lipha reviewing the business.

For 2001 Dolisos announced losses of around 20 million euros ($17.6 million), with sales for the same period up 3% at 121 million euros. Also in 2001, negotiations began to sell the company to Boiron, but this effort failed. It is anticipated that the company's eventual sale will help Fabre - itself in the process of splitting from BioMerieux (Marketletter April 8) - to reduce its debt level, and would enable Merck to reinforce operations in the French family pharmaceuticals market.