DARMSTADT (dpa-AFX) - There is a surprise change in the finance department at Darmstadt-based pharmaceutical and technology group Merck. Marcus Kuhnert will step down as chief financial officer and member of Merck's executive board at the end of June after a nine-year tenure, the DAX-listed company announced Monday in Darmstadt. The new chief financial officer from July 1 will be Helene von Roeder, who was chief financial officer of Germany's largest real estate group Vonovia until 2021, where she was most recently responsible for digitalization as chief transformation officer on the executive board.

Prior to that, von Roeder, who has a degree in physics, worked for 23 years for various investment banks in London and Frankfurt, including as Managing Director of Credit Suisse for Germany, Austria, and Central and Eastern Europe, and at U.S. bank Morgan Stanley.

Helene von Roeder has sat on the Supervisory Board of Merck KGaA and the Board of Partners of E. Merck KG since 2019 and was also Chairwoman of the Audit and Finance Committee. With her appointment as chief financial officer, she stepped down from these positions, Merck further announced.

There were no details on the background to Kuhnert's resignation. He is to remain a member of the Executive Board until the end of July 2024 at E. Merck KG, through which the Merck family holds its shares in the group./mne/stk/DP/he