Merck (Pty) Limited

Merck South Africa (Pty) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck AG, Zug, Switzerland and is responsible for the promotion of pharmaceuticals, speciality chemicals and laboratory supplies within the geographic area of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The head office is situated in Midrand, Gauteng with regional sales offices in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Bloemfontein and Witbank. Merck is also represented by an agency in Namibia and is engaged in an intensive export drive to other African countries.

The company has been operational in South Africa since 1970 and currently employs 280 people. Over the past 29 years, Merck has established itself as a supplier of choice in its target markets.

The core business of the Laboratory Supplies Division is the distribution of laboratory chemicals from Merck, BDH and Saarchem, consumables, glassware and instrumentation from key agencies such as Brand, Whatman, Eppendorf, Unicam, IKA, Scaltec, WTW, Schott and Gerhardt.

Merck's range of reagents and diagnostic equipment includes products used in modern research-intensive fields such as chromatography, biochemistry, preparative organic chemistry, microbiology and environmental analysis. The Laboratory Supplies Division markets over a broad spectrum of sectors including industry, academic, research, healthcare, pharmaceutical manufacturing, mining and utilities. Customers have access to a fully equipped workshop with trained personnel offering after sales service.

"We focus our endeavours on business areas where we can demonstrate a competitive advantage through the quality and performance of our products, systems and services. Our objective is to establish permanent business relations and not merely short-term success."

- John Puckrin, Chief Executive, Merck (Pty) Ltd