International Chemical Investors Group acquires Sandoz Industrial Products
ICIG says the site is a building block for further expansion into fermentation-based production technology
International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG), a privately owned industrial group, and Novartis have entered into an agreement under which ICIG will acquire Sandoz Industrial Products, a Frankfurt-Höchst, Germany based manufacturer of enzyme-based fermentation products and intermediates for the pharmaceutical industry, especially for the use in antibiotics.
No financial details have been revealed but the transaction is expected to close on 1 April.
Sandoz decided to withdraw from the production of intermediates for 7-ACA antibiotics for external customers in May 2015 which initiated a dual track process preparing the site for a sale and securing its customer base while alternatively considering a shutdown of its operation at the Industriepark Höchst.
With this agreement Sandoz Industrial Products will maintain its operations associated with the CordenPharma Group, the pharma platform of ICIG.
The business will complement ICIG’s pharma activities as well as its fine chemicals business within the WeylChem Group.
ICIG said the site represents an important building block for further expansion into fermentation-based production technology.
With the acquisition of the Sandoz Höchst site, CordenPharma Group will become one of the major suppliers of 7-ACA to customers worldwide. The firm will also use the material in-house for its own antibiotics value chain at its Latina site in Italy.
'The new site will expand CordenPharma’s operations, growing its enzymes-based manufacturing portfolio and dedicated antibiotics technology platform and will also add state-of-the-art capabilities in microbial fermentation and enzymatic reactions to WeylChem’s extensive non-GMP production capabilities,' said Achim Riemann, Managing Director of ICIG.