Johnson Matthey buys former Glaxo facility in Scotland

Johnson Matthey ($JMAT), a contract manufacturer, purchased a former Glaxo ($GSK) pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Scotland, giving the company additional capacity amid increasing global demand.

The 109,000-square-meter site, which was built in 1980 and most recently owned by Bakhur Pharma, is located in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, the company said in a press release. The company declined to disclose terms of the sale, but said it plans to invest "multimillion" British pounds sterling to refurbish the facility.

"This strategic site addition significantly increases our global manufacturing capabilities and capacity," John Fowler, a division director for the company, said in a statement. "Combining the Annan site with our leading technologies will answer our customers' needs for efficient production of pharmaceutical intermediates and APIs at the highest quality and compliance standards in the market."

Renovations to the site are expected to begin early next year with plans to have the facility fully operational by early 2016.

CMOs have been on a buying and construction spree of late. Among the highlights, Recipharm announced earlier this week it agreed to buy Flamel's ($FLML) facility in France for $13.2 million. It was the third such purchase this year by the Swedish contract developer. Last month, Spain's Grupo Chemo picked up two manufacturing plants in Turkey.

- see the announcement