Tom, here is the story from Reuters:
Tuesday January 13, 7:11 am Eastern Time
BASLE, Switzerland, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Swiss pharmaceuticals group Novartis AG's (OTC BB:NVTSY - news; NOVZn.S) synergy programme begun in 1996 will ultimately result in the shutdown, sale or outsourcing of 35 (corrected) of its 62 pharmaceutical production facilities, Novartis said, confirming reports in the Basler Zeitung on Tuesday.
Novartis, which was formed in 1996 through the merger of Swiss rivals Ciba-Geigy AG and Sandoz AG (SANZ.S), is currently in the advanced stages of a rationalisation programmed aimed at achieving costs reductions amounting to some two billion Swiss francs ($1.4 billion).
The group has said it is on track with its plan to achieve 60 percent of the savings in the first year of the merger, 80 percent by the end of 1998 and the rest in 1999.
A spokesman said that the hardest-hit regions will be North America, where the number of pharmaceuticals plants is being reduced to two from eight, the Asia/Pacific region, where the number of plants will drop to six from 19 and Latin America, which will lose eight plants, leaving it with three.
The one existing chemical plant would be closed in North America and two in the Asia/Pacific region would also be lost.
($ equals 1.477 Swiss Francs) |
