Merck KGaA drops Pegasus project

Merck KGaA has announced it has dropped its plan to make acquisitions in its chemical division.

The plan, known as Pegasus, was dropped because a major acquisition was thought to be too expensive.

However, Merck KgaA has refused to rule out any further takeovers in other areas, including pharmaceuticals as well as chemicals.

Financial Times Deutschland reported that through an acquisition the company had intended to double revenue from chemicals to 3.5 billion euros a year from 2008 and boost earnings from the business to 800 million euros a year.

Merck spokeswoman Phyllis Carter told Bloomberg: “We looked for a long time.

“Sometime in 2005 it became apparent we weren’t going to find our Pegasus.”

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