Norbrook buys Czech anaesthetic facility
anaesthetic product lines and a production facility from Czech
company Synthesia, part of the Aliachem group, reports Phil
Taylor.
Synthesia said it was selling the plant, which makes procaine hydrochloride and benzocaine, because its turnover represented only a tiny fraction of its overall business and the company's management was unable to devote resources to develop the market for the products.
A spokesman for Norbrook, which said that the purchase price would not be disclosed but was a multimillion pound figure. Boosting the firm's product portfolio was the primary aim of the transaction, he added, with geographic expansion into the emerging eastern European market of secondary importance.
Norbrook's main synthesis operations are in Ireland with a research division based in Carlisle, England. The firm manufactures a broad range of veterinary and medical pharmaceuticals, contract manufactured products and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dose forms. It exports to over 110 countries worldwide.
The Northern irish company now takes control of the production plant at Pardubice, including its technologies and 180 employees. The land on which the facility is situated remains the property of Aliachem.
The spokesman said that Norbrook intends to increase production of procaine and benzocaine at the facility, and stressed that there was no plam,at least for the time being, to shift any production from Ireland to the Czech Republic.
Synthesia will now focus its efforts on its remaining API portfolio, which includes pharmaceutical grade 4-aminobenzoic acid, ergocalciferol, ergosterol and mitoxantrone hydrochloride.
