German Merck To Poach US Merck's Pharma Guy?

Merck KGaA is reportedly snatching up one of Merck & Co.'s key executives, as the German Merck lets its pharma head go, at year end.

This is all according to published reports in the Financial Times Deutschland (but unconfirmed by either pharma company on the record, yet) -- as later quoted by both Reuters, and Bloomberg this snowy Winter's afternoon:

. . . .Merck KGaA won’t renew the contract of Elmar Schnee, head of the company’s pharmaceuticals business, and plans to hire another manager for his post, the Financial Times Deutschland reported.

Stefan Oschmann, currently head of emerging markets at U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co., is the preferred candidate to replace Schnee, the German newspaper said in an e-mailed preview of a report to be published tomorrow, citing “well-informed sources” that it didn’t identify. Schnee’s contract will expire in 2011, the newspaper said.

Phyllis Carter, a spokeswoman for Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck, declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News by telephone today. . . .

If true, this is a blow to Merck & Co., and a coup for Germany's KGaA. [These two companies split apart completely, over three-quarters of a century ago, now -- despite still sharing a first name.]