The Swiss contract services firm complete the deal last week, adding almost 100 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to its portfolio and three associated custom synthesis sites in Switzerland, France and German to its network.
BASF – which announced plans for the sale in May - has kept hold of its ibuprofen and omega-3 fatty acid API businesses. The German chemicals giant will support the sale and distribution of the divested ingredients until late 2016.
Siegfried CEO Rudolf Hanko said the acquisition will allow his firm to “reach the critical size to play a leading role in the supplier market as a recognized partner for the pharmaceutical industry.”
The three BASF sites generated revenue of CHF280m ($288m) for the German in 2014, which is roughly half of the total revenue Siegfried’s operations brought in over the same 12-month period.
But size is clearly a matter of perspective.
Last week BASF CEO Kurt Brock told investors that although the divested unit was relatively successful “in terms of size, critical size from a group point of view, and best ownership we can draw the conclusion: There are better places to put it.”
Brock added that: “This has been a good deal for BASF, most probably also for Siegfried and also for the employees of that business.”
The takeover is the latest in a number of investments Siegfried has made in the past few years, beginning with the takeover of Alliance Medical Products (AMP) in summer 2012.
More recently the Swiss contractor acquired sterile injectable drug manufacturer Hameln Pharma, adding a production facility in Hanover, Germany to its network of plants.
Siegfried was unable to respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.