Novartis seeks buyer for factory in PE

Nearly six months after announcing changes in the profile of biotech factory that is building in the State of Pernambuco, the Swiss Novartis laboratory declined to carry forward the enterprise. The value found that the multinational is looking for interested in assuming the unit, which is being built in the municipality of Jaboatão dos Guararapes and integrates a project budgeted at about $ 1.2 billion.
Among the possible interested in the acquisition of the plant would be the British GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which in April this year acquired the global Novartis Vaccines Division. The transaction did not include the unit of Pernambuco, which was scheduled to produce vaccines against meningitis b. a few days after the deal, Novartis announced that the factory would not produce more vaccines and other possibilities for the site would be evaluated.
The civil works of the unit are already advanced, but the forecast was that started producing only in 2018, due to the transfer of technology and licensing required. Novartis was able to approve in December last year a financing of $ 804 million with Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) for the project, which occupies an area of 21 hectares.
"At the point where today the project, not doable just give up. We are sure that there will be interested in taking over the project, "said a source in the Government of Pernambuco. Even after selling the vaccines Division, the direction of Novartis opted to maintain unity, but changed his mind.
Sought for comment, the multinational reported that, due to the negotiations with GSK, "certain investments in the factory are being put on hold", but that a final decision on discontinuities should only come out in the coming months. "This restructuring does not interfere with the ongoing construction of the plant, which remains under the supervision of Novartis, albeit with possible adjustments," says the note from the company.
The project was announced in 2007 aiming the production of recombinant proteins for vaccines against meningitis b. Two years later, Novartis launched the cornerstone of the project, originally planned for the municipality of Goiana, on the North coast of Pernambuco. After analysis of the infrastructure conditions of the area, the multinational decided to move the factory to Jaboatão, neighbor to the city of Recife. The production is destined for foreign markets.
A month before negotiating the Division of vaccines, Novartis had already announced the transfer of its plant in the municipality of Taboão da Serra, in São Paulo. The premises were taken over by the Chemical Union, controlled by businessman Fernando de Castro Marques.
Under the agreement, the national pharmaceutical will be responsible for the manufacturing and supply of products from Novartis made the unit. It will be up to Novartis the storage and distribution of products, while retaining full supervision of marketing rights records in all Latin American markets.
The Chemical Union will be responsible for the production of medicines of this unit of Novartis, among them, the labels Cataflan and Ritalin. The multinational also has factories in Sao Paulo, Cambé (PR) and Resende (RJ).