Teva ($TEVA) is selling Halo Pharmaceuticals ($HALO) a plant in Quebec that it has been trying to unload for 8 months.
The company said the 150 employees at the facility will transfer to Halo, which will use the plant to expand its contract manufacturing. Terms of the sale, which is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, were not disclosed.
The deal ends "continued efforts" to sell the facility near Montreal, Barry Fishman, president and CEO of Teva Canada, said in a release. The two companies still need approval from Canada's Competition Bureau and to complete manufacturing agreements, suggesting Halo will pick up some of Teva's production.
Teva announced last July it would try to sell the plant that it inherited from its 2010 buyout of Ratiopharm. The company said there were about 340 employees working there, but if it couldn't find a buyer, it would close the facility in March. This factor suggests Halo may have picked it up at a good price.
The generics giant has extensive worldwide manufacturing assets and has been juggling plant issues around the world. In a February call with analysts, Teva CFO Eyal Desheh said manufacturing problems at plants in California and Jerusalem contributed to a 32% decline in U.S. sales last year. The company voluntarily halted manufacturing of levothyroxine 100-mcg tablets at a U.K. plant last month after some patients experienced issues, and just weeks ago, its Pliva unit's Croatian plant halted production after an explosion and fire that killed one and injured 8 others.
- see the Teva Canada release