Hermes hikes production capacity
from Viatris in a move which triples the number of staff working on
production.
Germany's Viatris sold its Austrian production site in Wolfsberg to Hermes Arzneimittel on 8 October, raising the latter's manufacturing capacities at a stroke. Hermes manufactures and markets its own range of over-the-counter medicines but is also one of Europe's leading contract manufacturers.
Hermes is a specialist in effervescent formulations, including effervescent tablets and granulates, lozenges and chewable tablets and other quick-dissolving forms. The company is nearly 100 years old, but only started offering its contract manufacturing services to the pharma industry in 1994 at a newly-built production facility in Wolfratshausen, near Munich.
Johannes Burges, the owner and managing partner of Hermes, commented that the addition of the additional facility is a key part of the company's strategy for growth, which centres on stimulating organic growth as well as acquisitions.
"The acquisition of the Wolfsberg production site by Hermes is evidence of our company's determination to become Europe's most successful contract manufacturer of effervescent tablets," he said. The two companies have agreed not to reveal the purchase price.
For Viatris, the sale of the facility is part of an ongoing restructuring programme in the wake of its €375 million sale last year to healthcare investor Advent International by former parent Degussa.
The 200 employees at the Wolfsberg site will retain their jobs, said the companies. Hermes itself has around 100 members of staff involved in production at Wolfratshausen, where it operates eight granulators, two mixers, eleven fully automatic production lines for production of effervescent tablets in tubes or strip packs and two blister packaging lines.
