Mercky message

27 January 2014 By Neil Unmack, Olaf Storbeck Follow @unmack1

Is anyone worth 880 million euros? Merck stock dropped 10 percent after its finance chief left abruptly. The plunge reflects the German pharma group’s challenges and inflated hopes of transformative M&A. Quick completion of its AZ Electronics purchase would calm fraying nerves.

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Matthias Zachert, the finance chief of Germany’s Merck KGaA, is becoming chief executive of synthetic rubber maker Lanxess, both companies said late on Jan. 26. Zachert had joined Merck from Lanxess, where he was also CFO, in June 2011. Shares in Merck lost 10 percent on Jan. 27. Lanxess stock gained 8 percent.

Lanxess’ current chief executive, Axel Heitmann, will quit on Feb. 28 “by mutual agreement,” with Zachert taking over no later than May 15, the Cologne-based company said. Merck said its board would decide about a successor for Zachert “in due course.”

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