DARMSTADT (dpa-AFX) - Former SAP Executive Board member Michael Kleinemeier will permanently head the Supervisory Board of the pharmaceutical and chemical company Merck. Following the Merck Annual General Meeting on Friday, the 67-year-old was elected Chairman of the Board for four years, as the DAX-listed company announced in Darmstadt. The business graduate has been a member of the Merck Supervisory Board since 2019.

Kleinemeier had already headed the Supervisory Board on an interim basis since February, as the previous Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Wolfgang Büchele, had taken over as Chairman of the Board of Partners of E. Merck KG and therefore resigned his Supervisory Board mandate prematurely. The Merck family holds around 70 percent of Merck KGaA via the owner company E. Merck KG. The Board of Partners is a body comparable to the Supervisory Board of a stock corporation and has great influence at Merck./evy/als/DP/ngu