WHO WILL SUCCEED MERCK & CO CHIEF?

US-based Merck & Co has a long-standing rule that executives must retire at the age of 65. And Roy Vagelos, the company's chairman and chief executive, has thus announced that he will be retiring in October 1994, after his 65th birthday.

Dr Vagelos would not name a successor, but he told the New York Times in an interview that "everybody is working like hell to demonstrate what they can do."

Commenting on the situation, Hemant Shah of HKS & Co says that "it's a horse race," and Ron Nordmann of Oppen-heimer is of the view that analysts generally expect a smooth transition.