Snyder Communications Inc., a developer of marketing programs for Fortune 500 companies, has agreed to buy MKM Marketing GmbH for $58 million to strengthen its services to drug companies in Germany.

Closely held MKM, based near Munich, provides marketing research, educational programs and materials for drug introductions to the health-care industry, Bethesda-based Snyder said.

Snyder, which had 1997 revenue of $333 million, said it expects the purchase to add to per-share earnings this year and next. MKM, whose clients include SmithKline Beecham PLC, Merck & Co. and Novartis AG, is the latest in Snyder's recent string of purchases to broaden the company's services and geographic reach.

The purchase puts Snyder in the No. 1 or No. 2 position in pharmaceutical sales and marketing services in the United States, Britain, France and Germany, four of the largest drug markets in the world, said Daniel Snyder, the company's chairman and chief executive.

Last month, Snyder agreed to acquire closely held Clinical Communications Group, of Greenwich, Conn., for $108 million in stock and assumed debt.

Pub Date: 9/16/98