The deal with VWR continues its distribution of Merck’s, “products and reagents for chemical and microbiological analysis” in food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries in western Europe where VWR has a strong distribution network.
These include functional foods and the services are also used in organic synthesis and biosciences.
“We will give VWR access to more Merck Millipore products and expect with VWR’s wide geographic coverage across Western Europe we will be able to reach a larger customer base,” said Merck Millipore chief, Robert Yates.
Since 2004 Merck Millipore worked exclusively with VWR but can now engage with other parties under the agreement that runs until the end of 2018.
Peter Schuele, president of VWR’s European lab business commented: “We enable science with our assurance of supply through an excellent logistic infrastructure and our ability to combine the chemical offering with consumables, equipment, instrumentation and our rapidly growing service business.”
“Merck Millipore is a very important part in our chemical portfolio and the high value we can bring to our customer base.”
Merck Millipore is based in Massachusetts, employs around 10,000 people, operates in 66 countries and earned €2.6 billion in 2012. German parent Merck turned over €11.1bn in 2013.