The Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO), a government agency for promoting business development and investment in Puerto Rico, confirmed Merck & Co.’s agreement with American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) under which Merck will sell its manufacturing facility in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, that was under closing plans. As part of the agreement, AIAC will retain the approximately 200 Merck employees at the Arecibo manufacturing facility.

AIAC is an industrial group comprised of 60 manufacturing sites in 18 countries with over 9,500 employees. It has $1.5 billion in annual revenues and is privately held in the Unites States. It has been built over the last eighteen years by acquiring, operating and growing former divisions and subsidiaries of the several leading corporations, including United Technologies, Boeing, Siemens, Ingersoll Rand, and Lockheed Martin. AIAC manufactures for Dow, ABB, GE, Shell, DuPont and other companies, according to information from PRIDCO.

According to the information provided to PRIDCO, under the agreement, the facility would continue to supply certain products to Merck for a period of time. Eventually, some of those products will consolidate into Merck's Las Piedras manufacturing facility and others will transfer to a third-party contract manufacturer. AIAC would continue running the operations in Arecibo, supplying other manufacturing products for other clients.

Merck had previously reported to PRIDCO its plan to redesign its Puerto Rico manufacturing capabilities to focus on new product development and new product launches. This included an investment of more than $100 million in the Las Piedras facility made over the past years and plans to cease operations or sell the Arecibo and Barceloneta facilities. “After the efforts made by Merck with the support of PRIDCO to market and find alternate uses to those sites, both the Arecibo and Barceloneta facilities will remain in operation under different owners, protecting the jobs on these sites,” said PRIDCO in its statement.

Source: PRIDCO