Production technicians manufacture hematology controls at Bio-Techne. The company is being sold to Merck. (Anthony Soufflé/The Minnesota Star Tribune) Comment Gift Share Merck will buy Minneapolis-based Bio-Techne Corp. in a deal worth $11.3 billion. For Merck, based in Darmstadt, Germany, it is an early move by new CEO Kai Beckmann. “This transaction is an important milestone towards delivering on our mid- to long-term strategic agenda,” Beckmann said in a statement.