ICIG Acquires Sandoz Site

International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) and Novartis Group have entered into an agreement under which ICIG will acquire all of the shares in Sandoz Industrial Products GmbH, a Frankfurt-Höchst based manufacturer of enzyme-based fermentation products and intermediates for the pharmaceutical industry, especially for the use in antibiotics. Closing of the transaction is anticipated to occur on April1, 2016. Sandoz is part of Novartis.

Sandoz's decision to withdraw from the production of intermediates for 7-ACA antibiotics for external customers in May 2015 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.

ICIG is a privately owned industrial group with sales in excess of EUR 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 United States.

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 a building block for further expansion into fermentation-based production technology for ICIG.

Upon closing of the acquisition of the Sandoz Höchst 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.

Source: International Chemical Investors Group and CordenPharma

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