Almac Group will expand in Ireland by building a new facility set to employ 100 people in Dundalk, County Louth, at IDA Business Park, the company and Irish economic development agency IDA Ireland said today.
The company did not disclose the value of the new facility, except to say it would represent a “multimillion” pound investment designed to support ongoing global expansion in response to growing demand for its products. The new facility would add 32,000 square feet to its space across Europe, and provide a long-term presence for the company within the EU, Almac said.
Almac is headquartered in Northern Ireland, within the U.K.—where the government of Prime Minister Theresa May today published the long-awaited bill giving her the power to trigger the “Brexit” by notifying the E.U. of the kingdom’s plan to leave.
“Almac’s decision to expand into Dundalk provides the company with certainty of access to the EU in the long term. This certainty of access is an increasingly important selling point for Ireland as we look to win business for Ireland,” IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said in a statement.
Almac’s expansion into Dundalk comes more than 2 months after the company disclosed plans for three expansion projects totaling £27 million (about $34 million)—one in the U.S., two in Ireland—set to increase its global workforce to more than 5000 employees by the end of 2017.
Almac said it would add to its existing 240,000-square-foot facility in Souderton, PA, and lease a 26,000-square-foot office space in nearby Lansdale, PA, projects projected to cost a combined £20 million ($25 million). The project is projected to create 312 new, full-time jobs and increase capabilities for Almac’s Sciences, Clinical Services, Clinical Technologies, and Pharma Services businesses.
In return, Almac won a proposed £1.3 million ($1.6 million) Pennsylvania First Program grant from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
The company also said it will spend £5 million ($6.3 million) to build an additional laboratory and office facility at its global headquarters in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, as well as £2 million ($2.5 million) toward a renovation of the Arran Chemical Company facility in Athlone, Ireland, designed to add to its manufacturing capacity as well as its distillation and drying capabilities. Almac acquired the site in 2015.
In Craigavon, about 170 existing employees will be transferred to the new building, including chemists and analysts involved in supporting drug research, development, and manufacturing.
