AstraZeneca sells Alderley Park
pharmafile | March 13, 2014 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Manchester, Osborne, R&D, alderley park, research
AstraZeneca has sold its former R&D site in Cheshire to a public-private consortium for an undisclosed sum, and expects the transaction to be completed by the end of the month.
Alderley Park in Cheshire has been bought by Manchester Science Parks (MSP), which says it wants to make the location a “bioscience business cluster of international importance”.
The deal looks like bringing to a close a difficult period for the company – and for the local MP, George Osborne. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in whose Tatton constituency Alderley Park falls, insisted: “I’m fighting hard for the future of this site.”
Indicating his relief at the news, he said the deal would ensure that new businesses are able to build on the site’s life sciences history to “deliver exciting new opportunities and more jobs for the north-west”.
Things looked rather different a year ago when AstraZeneca dropped the bombshell that it was closing R&D operations there – with the loss of 600 jobs – as part of a global restructure which will see it move into a new £330 million HQ in Cambridge by 2016.
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot called the sale “the responsible and sustainable choice for the future of Alderley Park” and said the move will lead to growth and ‘significant opportunities’ for new jobs to be created.
AstraZeneca will take a pre-tax hit of $275 million in non-core R&D expenses in the first quarter of 2014, part of the cost associated with the group’s restructure, and will phase the handover of Alderley Park over the next three years.
The pharma group last year hired BioCity Nottingham, which specialises in setting up life sciences businesses, to establish a new centre for bioscience companies at the site.
The new buyer MSP is majority-owned by property company Bruntwood, with the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester and Salford City councils the other shareholders.
The acquisition is funded by Bruntwood, MSP and Cheshire East Council, with the lion’s share of the undisclosed sum coming from the company.
“We are delighted to have been entrusted with securing the future of Alderley Park as a bioscience facility of world class scale and quality,” said MSP chairman Chris Oglesby.
“We are committed to developing a bioscience business cluster of international importance on the site, making it a flagship location of its kind for the north of England and the UK,” he concluded.
AstraZeneca says around 700 staff will remain on the site in non-R&D roles.
Adam Hill
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