Nicholas Piramal to acquire Pfizer's Morpeth facility
Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL) has signed an agreement to acquire the manufacturing facility of Pfizer, Inc., located at Morpeth, Northumberland, UK.
Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL) has signed an agreement to acquire the manufacturing facility of Pfizer, Inc., located at Morpeth, Northumberland, UK.
The site is one of Pfizer's global, high-quality, integrated facilities, with end-to-end production and supply chain capabilities that cover APIs, finished dosage, packaging and distribution.
NPIL's UK subsidiary, NPIL Pharmaceuticals (UK) (formerly Avecia Pharmaceuticals) has entered into an agreement to acquire the Morpeth Facility on an asset purchase basis. The transaction includes: a supply agreement up till November 2011 representing potential revenues of more than US$350m; site fixed assets and property; and certain net current assets.
Morpeth's team of about 450 people has rich experience in new product launch, site technical transfer and operational excellence initiatives such as JIT & Right-First-Time. Its facilities are approved by US FDA and UK MHRA. Morpeth is a supply hub for certain Pfizer products supplied to the US, Europe and Japan.
Nicholas Piramal expects significant synergies of its current operations and business pipeline with Morpeth.
This transaction is NPIL's third acquisition in the UK after its acquisition of Rhodia's inhalation anaesthetics business in December 2004 and acquisition of Avecia's custom manufacturing business in December 2005.
The purchase expands NPIL's global footprint, particularly in the finished API, contained finished dosage, packaging and supply chain areas. The company has also gained strategic entry into the global sourcing network of Pfizer, Inc.
This transaction is a higher step in the sourcing relationship that Nicholas Piramal began with Pfizer in December 2005 when it secured a 7-year contract manufacturing-related r&d services agreement with Pfizer International LLC under which NPIL is to provide process development and scale-up services to Pfizer's animal health division. With the acquisition of Morpeth, NPIL will become the biggest supplier (in terms of spend) within Pfizer's global contract manufacturing network; with supplies to more than 100 global markets.
For Nicholas Piramal, the acquisition of Morpeth is consistent with its intent to become a global leader in custom manufacturing across the pharmaceutical value chain. At the transaction's completion, Nicholas Piramal will emerge as one of the world's top-10 pharmaceuticals outsourcing companies, across custom synthesis, APIs and finished sosage. In annualised terms, NPIL is expected to have custom manufacturing revenues exceeding $200m.
"This acquisition again demonstrates NPIL's commitment to provide an across-the-life-cycle and across-the-value-chain service to pharmaceutical companies," said chairman Ajay Piramal. "We believe we have an exciting future before us, with Morpeth playing a key role in NPIL's global CMO network."
