Serial buyer Valeant is expanding quickly, and to keep up, it’s expanding its office space, too.
The Canadian pharma has leased another 310,000 square feet at Somerset Corporate Center in Bridgewater, NJ, doubling its footprint at the complex less than two years after setting up its U.S. headquarters there, NJBIZ reports.
Valeant now leases two full buildings at the office park, and it’s extended the term of its original lease, too, the publication notes. The company amped up its New Jersey presence in 2013 with its buyout of Bausch & Lomb, consolidating its operations in the state from sites that included another in Bridgewater.
The move may come as no surprise to those who have been keeping track of Valeant’s latest acquisition spree. Early in the year, it inked pacts to pick up GI specialist Salix and the assets of bankrupt biotech Dendreon, later agreeing to buy Egypt’s Amoun Pharma to beef up in emerging markets. Last month, it announced a deal to nab Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the maker of a female libido drug, Addyi, that had won its FDA green light just one day prior. And Wednesday it announced a tuck-in deal with surgical business Synergetics USA.
Valeant isn’t alone in choosing New Jersey as a hub. Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Novartis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sanofi and Bayer are all corporate citizens–and Allergan, the company that swooped in to steal the Botox-maker from Valeant after a months-long hostile pursuit, calls the Somerset center home as well.
According to Steven Pozycki, the CEO of SJP Properties, which owns the complex, New Jersey has its convenient highway system and strong labor pool to thank, in part, for its large pharma presence. The latter, in particular, will offer the company “a distinct competitive advantage in attracting in retaining top talent,” he said in a statement.
By Carly Helfand
Source: Fierce Pharma
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