Bayer announces job cuts

Bayer HealthCare has presented firm proposals of job cuts and savings in accordance with its previously announced strategic integration targets.

The integration of the pharmaceuticals business of Bayer HealthCare and Schering AG will result in job losses of 6,100 internationally, with projected annual savings of 700 million euros (478.07 million pounds) as a result.

Bayer reiterated its previous announcements of a reduction in its workforce as a result of this integration, with 3,150 jobs to be cut in Europe, 1,500 of which in Germany.

Werner Wenning, chairman of Bayer, said: “We want to create an internationally successful pharmaceutical company with competitive cost structures.

“We said right from the start of the integration that job cuts would be necessary in order to achieve the synergy targets.”

He added that this “essential streamlining” would be executed in a socially-conscious manner, with a spread of job losses across the world, with Bayer reducing its number of locations and lowering personnel and structural overcapacity.

The firm will also concentrate its activities in research and development and bring together its marketing and administration operations.

Last month, Bayer HealthCare announced that it was increasing its presence in eastern Europe through the takeover of the marketing and distribution operations of Pharmonyx in a number of countries. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.