Merck announced that Matthias Zachert, CFO of Lanxess AG, Leverkusen, Germany, has been appointed a Member of the Executive Board and General Partner of Merck KGaA, effective during the summer of 2011. This is subject to approval by the Lanxess AG Supervisory Board.

Matthias Zachert will succeed Dr. Michael Becker who will retire during the course of 2011 but will continue as a member of the Executive Board of E. Merck KG until the end of this year. The appointment was made by the Board of Partners of E. Merck KG.

Matthias Zachert was born in Bonn, Germany, in 1967. After being trained as a commercial assistant at the former Mercedes Benz AG, he completed a degree in Business Administration with emphasis on Finance in 1995 and joined the International Management Program at the former Hoechst AG and led the IPO project for the spin-off of its pharmaceuticals business Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR). After holding a number of other management positions at HMR, he assumed responsibly in 1999 for the financial integration of the pharmaceutical companies Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc when they merged to become Aventis SA. In January 2000, he was appointed CFO of the Region International of Aventis Pharma in Paris. In mid-2002, he moved to Dusseldorf to become Chief Financial Officer of Kamps AG and in September 2004 he was appointed CFO at Lanxess AG, Leverkusen.

• Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany