Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is serving as U.S. counsel to Commerzbank, BNP Paribas and Merrill Lynch International as lenders to Merck KGaA in connection with its approximately $7.2 billion acquisition of Millipore Corp.

Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company based in Darmstadt, Germany. Billerica, Massachusetts-based Millipore is a leader in life science, providing cutting-edge technologies, tools and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

The Davis Polk corporate team includes partners Peter R. Douglas and Bradley Y. Smith, both of the New York office.