Celltrion said on the 11th that it has completed the corporate combination review process by the Premerger Notification Office (PNO) of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in connection with the acquisition of Eli Lilly's production facility in Branchburg, New Jersey.
With this review completed, Celltrion has finished all U.S. reviews following approval of the corporate combination review by an Irish government agency on Oct. 31, and has thereby completed all domestic and overseas regulatory procedures for the plant acquisition.
A corporate combination review is a process in which regulators in each country determine whether an asset combination between corporations may harm market competition. In the United States, Celltrion proceeded under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act), and in Ireland, it conducted reviews in each country based on a certain revenue threshold. With this process completed, the "deal closing" is expected to proceed within the year without a hitch.
Celltrion plans to accelerate PMI (post-merger integration) work by deploying working-level staff so the acquisition can be integrated without any business interruption at the same time as the deal closes. It will also continue to provide customized support that reflects local characteristics to help local employees adapt quickly.
Through this U.S. plant acquisition, Celltrion has simultaneously secured strategic advantages such as structurally escaping tariff risk, easing geopolitical uncertainties through diversification of production bases, and expanding opportunities for contract manufacturing (CMO) in the United States.
In particular, it plans to actively expand the CMO business centered on the Branchburg production facility, taking the increase in U.S. demand for pharmaceutical production as an opportunity. Leveraging its long experience in developing and producing biopharmaceuticals and its own new drug CMO track record, Celltrion plans to attract future CMO clients. Immediately after the acquisition, it also expects immediate revenue generation and early recovery of investment funds under the CMO contract agreed with Lilly.
Meanwhile, the Branchburg production facility is a large campus of about 45,000 pyeong, and after the acquisition, Celltrion plans to immediately begin expanding production capacity to 1.5 times that of the Incheon Songdo Plant 2 by investing at least 700 billion won additionally in an idle site of about 11,000 pyeong.
A Celltrion official said, "With this acquisition of a U.S. production facility, we have laid the foundation to accelerate our push into the global market," and added, "We will accelerate the company's growth and enhance shareholder value by strengthening our competitiveness in global pharmaceutical production and supply."