William Blair & BDA advise BMS on sale of East Syracuse, NY facility to LOTTE

BDA Partners is pleased to announce that Bristol Myers Squibb (“BMS”), advised by William Blair in conjunction with BDA Partners, has agreed to divest its manufacturing facility in East Syracuse, New York to LOTTE Corporation. The East Syracuse site will serve as the LOTTE Center for North America Operations for LOTTE’s new biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business in the United States. The East Syracuse site is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with commercial-scale production capacity for biologics. The site was originally established in 1943 to answer the US Government’s call for large-scale production of penicillin. 

The companies anticipate completing the transaction by 2H 2022, subject to the receipt of regulatory approval and the satisfaction of other closing conditions. Upon closing, LOTTE will acquire the East Syracuse site’s operations and assets, which include the property, plant and equipment, as well as a workforce with technical capabilities and expertise. Following the closing of the transaction, LOTTE, under a newly-established CDMO relationship, will manufacture products for BMS from the East Syracuse facility. Over time, LOTTE is expected to use the facility to expand its CDMO offerings for the biopharma industry.

“The East Syracuse site has been an important part of our company’s history and our manufacturing network for many decades, and we are confident that LOTTE will fully leverage the facility, its capabilities and its experienced workforce as it continues to play a vital role for patients around the world,” said Karin Shanahan, Executive Vice President, Global Product Development and Supply, BMS. “We have taken a thoughtful approach to this decision and are confident this will best support the continued evolution of our manufacturing network and our mission to deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.”

“We are pleased to add this state-of-the-art facility to our global pharma operations, which will enable us to rapidly scale and expand our biologics CDMO business in North America,” said Hunki Lee, Executive Vice President of LOTTE Corporation. “We look forward to welcoming the talented team in East Syracuse to LOTTE, and we intend to make significant investments to further enhance the facility and its capabilities to support our strategic growth objectives moving forward.”

“This transaction continues the trend of pharma majors focusing resources on key drug development and commercialization activities while optimizing their manufacturing footprints by partnering with trusted and specialized CDMO players”, said Andrew Huntley, Managing Partner and Global Head of BDA’s Healthcare sector banking team. “I’m delighted that BDA and our partners at William Blair could deploy our deep Pharma Services experience between North America and Asia to help bring about this strategic solution.”

“LOTTE is one of Korea’s most respected business groups, and it is exciting to see it expanding actively and internationally in the biologics space,” said Howard Lee, Partner and BDA’s Head of Seoul. “Our Korea-based banking team’s deep corporate relationships and credibility with large Korean groups helped deliver this outcome for BMS.”