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SWISS BUSINESS NEWS

 

 

SUMMER 2004

 

 

 

Top of the News

 

Location: Switzerland this year is launching its top investor and multiplier awards for North America. A nominating committee is being established to screen and review potential recipients for the awards, which are expected to be presented in Washington at a dinner co-hosted by the Swiss Embassy, Location: Switzerland and the American - Swiss Business Council.  Stay tuned.

 

 

Wins and Updates

 

Biogen Idec, the Cambridge, MA-based drug discovery and development company, has opened its new international headquarters in Zug.  Staffing is expected to reach 50 by year-end.

 

IT management company Cyclades of Fremont, CA, intends to open sales and support offices in Zurich in the autumn of 2004.

 

Montreal-based Cryocath, which produces cryotherapy products for treatment of cardiovascular diseases, will open its European headquarters in Lausanne in August 2004. The company also is looking closely at its clinical research procedures in Europe to consider outsourcing this function.

 

San Jose-based Agile Software Corporation has opened its EMEA shared services center in Solothurn. Present in Solothurn since 1995 with about 10 employees, the upgrade to EMEA status will bring with it an additional 15 or so senior management positions.

 

PC Academy, based in Virginia, is opening a new facility in Berne as part of a European expansion program directed to assisting small and medium business concerns with a concentration on business administration and trouble-shooting services.

 

New-Jersey-based diversified technology and manufacturing company Honeywell is siting its European administrative center of its unit Turbo Technologies in Morges. The center will employ a staff of nearly 100.

 

A new cGMP kilo laboratory for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates has been opened in St. Gallen by Missouri-based Sigma-Aldrich.

 

Apparel manufacturer Timberland has opened its international finance and holding company in Schaffhausen. The operation will start with 5 employees and provide financial services within the global group.

 

 

From The Foreign Desk

 

With the opening of a new subsidiary in Zurich, Berlin-based software solutions developer SAPERION has expanded its foreign activities in Switzerland. SAPERION (Schweiz) AG commenced operations July 1.

 

Singapore-based Commercial Intelligence has recently opened an office in the Greater Zurich Area. The company, which collects debts worldwide, especially in developing countries, has other European operations in France and the UK.

 

French house building company Mikit has signed a franchise agreement in Switzerland and other countries as part of expanding its network outside France.

 

Givaudan, the Swiss flavor and fragrance producer, is reported to be consolidating its European flavor production business, moving production from its Dutch site in Barneveld to facilities in Germany and Switzerland.

 

Atron, a German producer of traffic signal systems, is starting a plant in St Gallen. The company will initially have a staff of about 30, and located in St Gallen due to its cost advantages and the favorable business and university environment.

 

Also in St. Gallen, Shemer, an Israeli company specializing in the design and manufacture of customized electronic machinery enclosures for the high-tech industry, has opened a sales office to cover the Western European markets. Later the company will organize logistics from that location.

 

 

Other News

 

Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche Diagnostics announced it will spend around $640.5 million expanding its biotechnology capacity. The company expects capital expenditure of about 400 million francs each on the construction of a new center at its Basel campus and an additional facility at its Penzberg, Germany, site over the next three years. 300 new jobs are expected.

 

Reverse Investment: Swiss-based medical device manufacturer Straumann decided to keep its US headquarters in Massachusetts and will open its first U.S. manufacturing plant in the Bay State.  The $50 million investment over the next five years is projected to add as many as 300 new jobs in manufacturing high-precision implants for tooth replacement. Skilled labor is what drew the firm to Andover.

 

Also in America, Swiss inspection and certification firm SGS said it will buy Petroleum Services Corporation of the US to complement its services in the oil, gas, chemical, and minerals industries.

 

Swiss technology firm Micronas is acquiring US high definition TV producer Linx Electronics for a reported $26 million. The acquisition broadens the Swiss company’s presence in the digital television space.

 

Swiss agribusiness Syngenta will reportedly close its GMO research operations in the U.K. and move the work to the Triangle Research Park area of North Carolina. In addition, the Basel-based company is acquiring 90 percent of the Gold-Harvest Group, which is expected to increase its presence in the U.S. corn market to 15 percent and to 13 percent in soybeans.  The acquisition is reported to cost $225 million and is expected to close in the 3rd quarter of this year.

 

Industrial conglomerate Saurer has sold its XALOY operations based in Pulaski, VA, to American investment group Baird Capital Partners.  The transaction is part of the Swiss group's divestment of its Surface Technology Division.

 

Swiss machine-tool manufacturer Saia-Burgess is entering the US market with the acquisition of a division of the Buhler Motor Group.  The reported price is about $25 million.  The acquired Buhler division, which employs 150 persons, produces transformers and motors for automobile air-conditioning systems.

 

Swiss computer mouse and accessory maker Logitech has purchased Canadian remote control maker Intrigue Technologies.  The $30 million transaction is expected to widen the Swiss companies Canadian presence and add an estimated $10 to 20 million in sales to Logitech's bottom line during the current year.

 

Also in Canada, Novartis said it plans to buy Canadian generic-drugs maker Sabex Holdings Ltd. for $565 million.  Sabex, which is based in Boucherville, Quebec, generated around $90 million in sales last year and will substantially strengthen the Swiss company’s foothold north of the border.

 

Three universities, two in Switzerland and one in Germany, will bundle their experiences to create an International Packaging Institute to be based in Neuhausen am Rheinfall.  The universities of applied sciences in Constance and Winterthur and University for Media in Stuttgart will cooperate across borders to create an international institution that will offer a Master's Degree in Packaging Technology.

 

 

Publicity and Promotion

 

Releases distributed since the last newsletter:

 

 

May 18 – Invitation to BIO 2004 events to bio/pharma press, media tour guests

 

June 22  -Switzerland scores a Total of 446 New Investment Projects in 2003

 

June 29 - Leadership 21’s operating company in Zurich

 

July 13 - Sigma-Aldrich’s new cGMP kilo laboratory in St. Gallen

 

July 27 - Biogen Idec’s International Headquarters in Zug

 

 

 

News from Location Promotion Switzerland