Total assets of the Merck Group as of June 30, 2010, amounted to EUR 22,283 million. This corresponds to a shift of EUR 5,570 million or 33% over the year-earlier period. This increase mainly relates to cash inflows from bonds issued in the first quarter with a total volume of EUR 3.2 billion. The cash inflow from these bonds is being used for the acquisition of Millipore. The equity ratio declined from 56.9% at the beginning of the year to 48.4% as of June 30, 2010. Because of short-term investing of the funds from the bond issue, there are no effects on net debt. As a result, net debt was reduced further, so that at the end of the quarter under review, Merck Group was cash positive to the amount of EUR 230 million. This compares to EUR 263 million net financial debt as of December 31, 2009.
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