July 9, 2011
 
Bayer begins joint venture with Bomac
 

Bayer Australia has successfully began merging with Bomac's Australian business, which has solidified its standing in the animal health market.

The merging of the two companies is part of a bigger scheme involving Bayer and Bomac in New Zealand and will be fully completed by the end of the year.

According to the company, Bomac was New Zealand's largest privately owned animal health company, and had offices on both sides of the Tasman.

Udo Klein, Bayer Animal Health country manager for ANZ, said that the two companies are now fully merged in Australia.

"We're delighted with how well and how efficiently the merger has gone here in Australia, but also in New Zealand too. Because our product portfolios were complementary, with little overlap, we have been able to keep redundancies to only a handful. Overall our Australian Animal Health operations have grown to include about 275 products and 90 employees working in both the companion animal and farm animal areas," stated Klein.

According to Klein, the establishment of a new Centre for Innovation and Development (CID) at Bomac's manufacturing site in Auckland is the key to Bayer's growth plans.

"One of the reasons Bayer acquired Bomac is the company's innovation track record. In recent years, Bomac averaged 20 new product registrations a year which is phenomenal. We have plans to invest more into new products not only for the Australian and New Zealand markets, but the entire southern hemisphere," Klein added.

These product areas include livestock health such as the treatment of mastitis in dairy cows, sheep and cattle parasiticides, bovine reproduction and new swine products aimed at markets in the southern hemisphere.