NEWS
Bachem acquires third Swiss site
Peptides giant Bachem has agreed to acquire an undeveloped site covering 155,000 m 2 in Sisslerfeld , northwestern Switzerland , from DSM in order to manage growing demand . It has already acquired the first plot and others will follow in time . Terms are not being disclosed Initially the firm plans to invest € 765 million by 2030 , creating over 500 jobs . Up to 3,000 in total could be created , on top of the 1,200 Bachem already employs , with 800 more expected from other ongoing expansions . More details will be released on this and the start of construction after the planning phase is completed in 2024 . This announcement followed a multi-stage selection process , which first came down in favour of northwestern Switzerland “ due to the region ’ s strong locational conditions , including a skilled workforce , a network of suppliers , and a high concentration of pharmaceutical and chemical companies ”. Sisslerfeld was then chosen mainly because it offered the necessary space requirements . Bachem had already expanded considerably at its two other Swiss sites and in the US and the UK . At Bubendorf , its headquarters , the company began constructing
‘ Building K ’, its largest peptides and oligonucleotides production facility to date , in 2021 . Once complete in 2024 , this will more than double capacity at Bubendorf . It will “ strongly leverage green chemistry and automation technologies ”, Bachem added . Bachem has already announced that it has signed two contracts to provide large volumes of peptides from within Building K to unnamed customers . These cover order volumes worth about € 25 million in 2023 and € 153 million in 2024 . Negotiations are in process for “ further significantly higher orders ” in the following years .
Indian owner for Briar Chemicals
New Delhi-based Safex Chemicals has acquired UK-based agrochemical CDMO Briar Chemicals from pan-European alternative investment firm Aurelius in a £ 73 million deal . Safex is itself backed by a private equity firm , ChrysCapital , and supplies crop protection chemicals . Briar was formed as a carve-out transaction from Bayer CropScience in 2012 . It has a 46.5-hectare site near Norwich dating back to 1955 , when May & Baker founded it , and which subsequently went through many changes of ownership . The site operates lab- to large-scale reactors , with space and infrastructure available for future expansion . Neeraj Jindal , a director of Safex , has joined the Briar board and “ will steer the future growth of the company ”, Safex said . There are no plans to move location or make any redundancies among the 250 employees . This is Safex ’ s first overseas acquisition .
6 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981