GREY Grey Global Grp. (MM)

Grey Healthcare Group Acquires strategie & kommunikation gmbH, one of Germany's Premier Healthcare Communications Companies Leading the German Market in Partnership with Grey Healthcare Cologne NEW YORK, July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Grey Healthcare Group (GHG), the fifth largest healthcare communications company in the world, acquired strategie & kommunikation (s&k), a full service medical education company and one of the leading and most respected healthcare companies in Germany. Strategie & kommunikation, now s&kGrey, specializes in medical education with deep oncology experience. The Freiburg, Germany-based company retains its management team: Joachim Herchenhan, CEO, and Olaf H. Just, Managing Director. s&k, established in 1985, has worked with some of the world's top pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Aventis, Aventis Pasteur MSD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Hoffmann-La Roche, Pfizer/Pharmacia, Sanofi-Synthelabo, and Teva Pharma. The deal was 100% cash. Terms were not disclosed. Germany is the third largest pharmaceutical market, with more than euro 20 billion ($24.6 billion US) in sales. The acquisition follows GHG's 2003 purchase of Darwin, the Oxfordshire, UK-based medical communications company specializing in oncology and hematology. s&kGrey will partner with Grey Healthcare Cologne to deliver clients creative brand marketing and well-integrated medical education programs, especially in Germany and German-speaking Europe. The combination of s&kGrey and Grey Healthcare Cologne brings the GHG German offices into the top 3. "GHG is committed to expanding its European medical education capabilities through organic growth and strategic acquisitions like s&k. Medical education is one of the most significant sectors of pharmaceutical marketing, and we are now one of the leading players in Germany," says Lynn O'Connor Vos, CEO and President of Grey Healthcare Group. "We're proud to offer one of the strongest med ed networks in the industry to our clients around the world." "Being part of the Grey worldwide network offers us the chance to dramatically expand our business and offerings, and to broaden our oncology expertise," adds Joachim Herchenhan, CEO of s&kGrey. Headquartered in New York, GHG comprises 10 companies with 42 offices in 16 countries. It provides an extensive array of integrated services in support of brand acceleration and sales, including branding, advertising, CME and medical education, direct-to-consumer/direct-to-patient communications, managed markets, e-marketing, consumer healthcare research, and contract sales. GHG is a wholly-owned partner company of GGG (NASDAQ:GREY), the world's seventh largest holding agency. DATASOURCE: Grey Healthcare Group CONTACT: Wendy Hauser, Dir, Corp Comm, GHG Inc., +1-212-886-3058,

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