The free cash flow of the Merck Group in the third quarter of 2010 totaled EUR -4,383 million (Q3 2009: EUR 399 million). This includes payments of EUR 4,934 million in connection with the acquisition of Millipore. The purchase price of EUR 5,137 million was lowered by cash of EUR 300 million included in the acquisition. Additional transaction-related payments amounted to EUR 97 million. A final payment of EUR 6.6 million was made for the Suzhou Taizhu China Group, which was acquired in 2009. Adjusted for these effects, underlying free cash flow was EUR 561 million, exceeding the year-earlier period (EUR 429 million) by EUR 131 million or 31%. The increase in underlying free cash flow is due mainly to the improvement in business in comparison with the year-ago period.
For the nine months from January to September, free cash flow amounted to EUR –3,832 million (year-ago period EUR 642 million). Underlying free cash flow (adjusted for acquisitions and divestments) was EUR 1,127 million. Compared with underlying free cash flow of EUR 673 million in the nine-month period of 2009, this corresponds to an increase of EUR 455 million or 68%.