A stock swap between two health giants in Europe is resulting in more than 225 new jobs across northern Georgia, 150 more than previously expected from the merger.
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc., formed from a recently closed deal in which the German company gained control of French animal-health giant Merial, is investing $120 million in the state, according to a news release from Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.
Previously, the company had just intimated that it would be putting 75 new jobs at the Gwinnett headquarters after the deal closed.
But now the company notes that it will hire more than 100 people at a previously Merial-run research and manufacturing facility that has been located near the University of Georgia in Athens since 1989. It will also hire 50 at a Gainesville factor focused on poultry health in an area of the state that leads the nation in the production of broilers (whole chickens), especially for export. Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world’s top-20 drug makers, with nearly 50,000 employees at 145 global sites.
The infusion is more evidence that even though mergers can have winners and losers, states can come out on the positive end by engaging with their foreign investors. Once anathema to economic developers, mergers and acquisitions are becoming a key part of foreign investment strategy in metro Atlanta.
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