Bayer to buy Sterling assets from SmithKline

Abstract

In a $1 billion deal, Bayer A.G. has agreed to buy the North American over-the- counter (OTC) assets of Sterling Winthrop from SmithKline Beecham. The sale, when completed, will give the Germany-based chemical and health care giant rights to use the Bayer name and trademark cross in the U.S. for the first time since losing that right during World War I. The announcement comes soon after U.K.-based SmithKline announced it would acquire Sterling's worldwide OTC business from Eastman Kodak (C&EN, Sept. 5, page 4). Bayer immediately made public overtures to buy back the products and the use of its name and logo from SmithKline. The U.S. government confiscated Bayer's assets in January 1918 as enemy property, then sold them in December 1918 to the company that became Sterling. Bayer regained extremely limited use of the name in 1986 but operated in North America almost exclusively under the name Miles, its U.S. subsidiary. We are very ...