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SWISS BUSINESS NEWS

 

 

FALL 2008

 

 

Top of the News

 

Switzerland’s former foreign investment agency Location Switzerland is now part of the country’s broader organization called Switzerland Trade and Investment Promotion.  Offices remain in New York and Washington, and continue to focus on promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) into Switzerland from North America.

 

In addition to promoting foreign direct investment, the enlarged Switzerland Trade and Investment Promotion organization also assists Swiss companies investing abroad and in promoting trade between Switzerland and the rest of the world. The umbrella organization is based in Zurich with 16 Swiss business hubs around the world, including one in Chicago headed by regional director Martin von Walterskirchen.

 

 

Wins and Updates

 

Kaplan, Inc., a leading global provider of educational services for individuals, schools and businesses, has acquired Pro Linguis, a premier provider of educational services for students and professionals headquartered in Zurich. Pro Linguis was established in 1955 and today operates through a network of 10 offices throughout Switzerland.

 

Minnesota-based Swarmcast Inc, an online video streaming services provider, announced the opening of its European headquarters in Zurich. The new office will provide regional customer support and expand Swarmcast’s corporate presence in the burgeoning European market.

 

Capco, a global provider of integrated transformation services, is opening a new branch in Switzerland as part of its global expansion strategy to enhance its growth on the continent and to enlarge its presence in the financial services industry.

 

Maryland-based Martek Biosciences entered into a multi-year contract to provide two nutritional supplements to Hero, a leading Swiss food company. Hero will use omega fatty acid supplements in infant formula and milks for children.

 

The Wilmington Trust Company is buying the UBS Fiduciary Trust Company from UBS for an undisclosed sum.

 

Selexis SA, a Geneva-based biotechnology company offering technologies and services to enable improved drug discovery, development, and cGMP production, has signed a commercial license agreement with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. an integrated biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This commercial license agreement provides Merrimack with the rights to apply a high-performance cell line, generated using the Selexis technology platform, for the cGMP production of an undisclosed antibody.

 

Neuchatel-based Colibrys, a supplier of standard and semi-custom MEMS-based motion sensors, and the Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas business region of Avnet, Inc., announced Avnet will distribute Colibrys’ full line of motion sensors in North America.

Carlson Hotels Worldwide announced the addition of 17 locations to its global portfolio during June and July. Three are in Switzerland including the Flagship Radisson in Zurich.

 

 

 

Reverse Investments

 

The Fairfield Greenwich Group announced that it merged with Banque Benedict Hentsch & Cie SA, a private bank based in Geneva.  The combined companies have reported assets under management of more than $18 billion.

 

Swiss duty-free retailer Dufry AG will acquire Hudson Group Inc., East Rutherford, NJ.

 

Switzerland’s Sika AG has bought Cappar, Ltd., based in Ontario. The Canadian company produces resin-based products for the protection and restoration of concrete structures.

 

ABB has signed an agreement to purchase US transformer company Kuhlman Electric Corporation from the private equity firm Carlyle.

 

The Oerlikon Group is selling its magnetic media equipment business to Intevac, based in Santa Ana, CA.

 

The Buhler Technology group is purchasing all of the outstanding shares of US firm Aeroglide, which it will continue to operate as an autonomous competence center of the larger company.

 

Novartis has agreed to acquire the pulmonary business of Nectar Therapeutics in San Carlos, CA, for reported $115 million. Novartis intends to use the newly acquired know-how to formulate treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and cystic fibrosis.

 

 

From The Foreign Desk

 

 

QRC Group AG, a German recruitment consulting agency headquartered in Nürnberg, has opened a subsidiary office in Zurich.

 

Transocean Inc. the world's largest offshore drilling contractor and the leading provider of drilling management services worldwide, announced plans to relocate the place of incorporation of its group holding company from the Cayman Islands to Geneva subject to shareholder approval and the approval of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. This could occur in late 2008 or early 2009. The company expects 14 officers including Transocean Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bob Long and a small number of related support staff to relocate to Geneva.

 

Dachser Air & Sea Logistics, part of the German freight forwarding company Dachser GmbH, opened a new branch in Reinach, near Basle. The move places Dachser in Switzerland's only inland port. Basle accommodates the biggest container terminals, with links to road, internal waterway and rail networks.

 

Also from Germany, the technology group Linde, via its Swiss subsidiary PanGas AG, will build a new air separation plant in Muttenz, in the canton of Basel-Land, for around 68 million Swiss francs . The new plant, which will have a capacity of over 500 tons of liquefied nitrogen, oxygen and argon per day, will come on stream in the late autumn of 2010.

 

Bermuda based Allied World Assurance Company Holdings Ltd announced it will open a branch office in Zug to offer reinsurance products throughout Europe and beyond.

 

Krom River, an $810m commodities fund started two years ago, has shifted its office from London to the low-tax Swiss town of Zug in a move that some advisers predict will soon be followed by larger funds. The move comes as Switzerland steps up efforts to attract hedge funds from London, and announced reforms of complex tax laws that had deterred hedge funds and private equity groups.

 

BASF, one of the world’s biggest makers of chemicals, will buy Basel-based Ciba Holding for a reported SFr 6.1 billion.  Once completed the deal will extend BASF’s leading position as a preferred supplier to the plastics industry, make it the second largest suppler of coating materials and also add to its plastics additives business.  The German conglomerate has 95,000 workers worldwide and last year sales of nearly 58 billion euros.

 

The Lufthansa Technik Group, part of Lufthansa Airlines, is significantly expanding its capacity to provide technical support for business and privately owned VIP aircraft in the European market.  The almost 500 technicians and engineers housed at the Basle International Airport will now also maintain and support Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft.

 

Phillips de Pury, the art auction house specializing in contemporary works, has been bought by Mercury, a Moscow-based luxury goods group.

 

 

Other News

 

The 2008-2009 Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum again ranked Switzerland 2nd after the United States. The survey polled over 12,000 business leaders in a record 134 global economies and is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate.

 

Switzerland ranks 7th, 3rd in Europe in the inaugural The Financial Development Index published by the World Economic Forum.  The index is a rigorous, comprehensive analysis of financial systems and capital markets in 52 countries that focuses on key drivers of financial system development and economic growth in developing and developed countries. The rankings are based on over 120 variables spanning institutional and business environments, financial stability, and size and depth of capital markets, among other factors, in assessing the complex financial systems of the 52 countries studied.

 

The 2008 Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International shows Switzerland and Finland scoring 9.0 out of a possible 10.  Denmark and Sweden tied at 9.3, the highest scores reported.  The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.

 

The Global Financial Centers Index – a twice-yearly ranking – places Zurich 5 and Geneva 6 after London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong.

 

The economic downturn and financial instability have made the largest transnational corporations (TNCs) more cautious about their medium-term foreign direct investment (FDI) ambitions, UNCTAD´s World Investment Prospects Survey 2008-2010 reports. The survey, based on 226 responses to queries sent to the world´s largest TNCs, indicates that a majority of respondent companies still plan to increase their international investment expenditures, albeit at a more moderate level, over the next three years. This is largely due to an underlying and persistent trend towards expanding the share of TNC production, employment, and sales abroad.

 

The Swiss Life Science Prize was awarded recently during Life Science Week in Basle to Eve Sense, who is based in Basle and in Grossostheim, Germany.

 

 

Publicity and Promotion

 

On September 24 Merck & Company, Albany International, Intuitive Surgical, and Johnson & Johnson received Tell Awards for Switzerland’s most significant inward investment projects by North American firms in 2007. They were presented by Ambassador Urs Ziswiler during the Embassy’s 7th Annual Alumni Garden Party at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, DC.  While first presented in 2004 in a program recognizing projects by U.S., Canadian and Mexican firms, the Tell Award program has expanded to South America where on October 30 in Sao Paulo H. E. Willi Meier, Swiss Ambassador to Brazil awarded mining company Vale and textile company Vicunha for their outstanding investment activities in Switzerland.

 

During the week of September 21, 12 journalists participated in Switzerland Trade and Investment Promotion’s 17th media tour.  The focus was on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) with stops in Geneva, DEWS, Biel/Bienne and GZA.

 

 

 

SwissInk

 

First results from the MEMs Tour

 

Advanced Materials and Processes covered CSEM research into nanotech in the October issue and will run an article about the BMW Sauber in the November issue.

 

 

Other Ink

 

Our release on the Tell Awards and a release on 4th International NanoRegulation Conference 2008 in St.Gallen were published by Nano Business News on September 18.

 

More than 110 online news services picked up our Tell Award release.  “Visitors” to these sites range from several thousand to 13 million per day.

 

Recent Reportage in the Financial Times

 

September 20: “Swiss House on a Roll” was the title of a flattering article about Akaris, the fashion and design house for the well-to-do run by Albert and Peter Kriemier and based in St. Gallen.

 

September 27/28: The Bernese Oberland was featured in a Travel Section article titled “Mountain High”

 

October 11/12: “Buildings that Belong” featured a glowing piece on Swiss architect, who is probably best known for the Kunsthaus Bregentz and Therme Bais spa.  

 

October 17: “Altitude Adjustment” and “The Sunny Side of the Alps” featured Locarno, Lugano and Ascona in canton Ticino and the growing interest in former farm buildings as second or vacation homes for foreign investors.

 

October 25: “Swiss Diligence, Alaskan Fun” described Martin Buser, a Swiss expat who has won Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race four times.

 

 

October 31, 2008

 

 

News from Location Promotion Switzerland