International Chemical Investors buy Sandoz's Frankfurt site

International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) has acquired Novartis Group’s Sandoz Industrial Products GmbH, a Frankfurt-based manufacturer of enzyme-based fermentation products and intermediates for the pharmaceutical industry (especially for the use in antibiotics).
 
In May 2015, Sandoz decided to withdraw from the production of intermediates for 7-aminocephalosporanic acid (7-ACA), used in the synthesis of cephalosporin antibiotics and intermediates, for external customers. This 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 Hochst.
 
With this agreement, Sandoz Industrial Products GmbH will maintain its operations associated with the CordenPharma Group, the pharma platform of ICIG. The business will be complementary to both ICIG’s pharma activities as well as to its fine chemicals activities within the WeylChem Group. The site represents an important building block for further expansion into fermentation-based production technology for ICIG.
   
Upon closing of the acquisition of the Sandoz Hochst site, CordenPharma Group will become one of the major suppliers of 7-ACA to customers worldwide. CordenPharma 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 add state-of-the-art capabilities in microbial fermentation and enzymatic reactions to WeylChem’s extensive non-GMP production capabilities as well,” said Dr Achim Riemann, managing director of ICIG.
 
Patrick Schnitzer, managing director of ICIG, added, “With the newly acquired plant at the Hochst site, ICIG further increases its footprint in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main area. We are focused on the continuation and further development of the business, as we have successfully demonstrated in many other transactions.”
 
International Chemical Investors is a privately owned industrial group with sales in excess of Euro 2 billion and more than 6,000 employees worldwide. ICIG is focusing on three main platforms: pharmaceuticals under the CordenPharma brand, fine chemicals under the WeylChem brand and chlorovinyls under the Vynova brand. Since inception in 2004, ICIG has acquired 24 independent chemicals and pharmaceutical businesses in Europe and the US, all of which have origins in major global chemical or pharmaceutical corporations.