KENILWORTH (NJ) (dpa-AFX) - Merck Animal Health, a division of Merck & Co. (MRK), on Thursday announced a definitive agreement to acquire TARGAN, a privately held developer of biodevice solutions for the poultry industry, for undisclosed consideration.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
The acquisition is expected to expand Merck Animal Health's poultry portfolio with TARGAN's biodevice technologies,
The expansion includes WingScan, an automated chick sex-sorting system that uses vision technology and proprietary algorithms to process up to 160,000 chicks per hour.
The deal also adds high-speed precision ocular spray technology for administering vaccines to day-old chicks and enhances Merck Animal Health's device development capabilities across multiple animal species.
Merck Animal Health has been an investor in TARGAN since 2017 and is one of the company's largest shareholders.
In the pre-market trading, Merck & Co. is 0.56% higher at $119.73 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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