The ink is dry and the keys to a former Bristol Myers Squibb production facility in East Syracuse, New York, have been handed over to Lotte Biologics.
The handover was completed Jan. 1, putting a cap on what was a relatively fast eight-month process compared to a more average one-year timeline for overseas acquisitions, the South Korean CDMO said in a Jan. 2 press release.
With the plant purchase complete, Lotte Biologics aims to achieve $940 million in annual sales, a 30% operating margin and a corporate value of around $15 billion by 2030, Richard Lee, Lotte Biologics’ chief executive, said in the release.
The speed of the deal and the transitions involved are even more impressive when you consider Lotte Biologics only emerged as a biopharma subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Lotte on June 7, 2022. About a month before that, the companies agreed to the $160 million plant sale.
Lotte is South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate and also has its hands in the food and beverage, retail, chemical and hotel service sectors.
More than 99% of the former BMS employees at the facility will stay on at Lotte Biologics, including key personnel with more than 15 years experience in the industry. BMS told Fierce in May there were 420 BMS employees working at the plant with direct support of more than 100 on-site contractors.
Lotte Biologics has previously said it plans to add about 70 jobs to the facility and will spend about $77 million in upgrades to boost capacity at the plant.