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SWISS BUSINESS NEWS

 

 

SPRING 2007

 

 

Top of the News

 

A new study “Multinational Companies on the Move: How Switzerland Will Win the Battle” has been released by the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce and The Boston Consulting Group. Noting among other points that multinational companies are increasingly exposed to international location optimization, it puts forward five key measures that the authors feel are crucial in the global race to attract and keep multinationals.  A PDF of the study is available at http://www.locationswitzerland.com/html/newsletters-pr-articles/articles/bcgamcham2multi.pdf

 

 

Wins and Updates

 

 

California-based search engine company Google laid the groundwork for substantial growth in Switzerland with the establishment of its biggest European engineering center in Zurich at a former brewery. The company will gradually occupy a total of 11,500 square meters of office space.

 

Illinois-based VASCO Data Security International Inc, a software security company specializing in authentication products, will establish its European headquarters in Zurich.

 

 

Integra Life Sciences, Plainsboro, NJ, a manufacturer of specialized devices in the medical field, has opened an office in Geneva to serve as its orthopedic products distributor for Switzerland.

Philadelphia, PA-based Rohm & Haas intends to implement a new European business model and open a centralized European headquarters located near Lausanne.

Burger King has located its EMEA Headquarters in Zug.                         

 

Contract research organization, INC Research of Raleigh, NC, is expanding its presence in Europe with a new office in Zurich, noting the city is “is an epicenter of European biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovation.”

 

Global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller has returned to Geneva, from where it first entered the European market in 1961. Other Swiss offices are in Zurich and Berne.

 

Quebec-based aluminum manufacturer Alcan has invested 15 million Swiss francs in a new production line for its Airex closed-cell specialty foam in Sins, canton Aargau.

 

An affiliate of Virginia-based provider of intelligent data capture solutions, Brainware Inc, recently opened a new office in Neuchatel.

openQ, a Charlottesville, VA-based provider of integrated key relationship management solutions for the life sciences industry, is continuing its overseas expansion with the opening of its European headquarters in Zurich.

 

Allergan, based in Irvine, CA, has completed the acquisition of EndoArt SA, the Swiss-based privately owned medical technology company, for $97 million in cash. EndoArt is a leader in providing quality life-enhancing products for serious and debilitating medical conditions and is located as a spin-off at the business park of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.

Dionex Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA, opened its European Customer Support Center at its European headquarters—Dionex (Europe) Management AG in Olten. Dionex (NASDAQ:DNEX) is a global leader in the manufacture and marketing of liquid chromatography and extraction systems.

 

Baldwin Technology Company, Inc., based in Shelton, Connecticut, announced that it acquired Hildebrand System Gmbh, the high-performance web-cleaning company based in Zug. Baldwin is a leading international supplier of products and systems to the newspaper publishing and commercial printing industries.

 

Insightful Corporation (NASDAQ:IFUL), a leading provider of predictive analytics and statistical solutions announced that it was opening new offices in Zurich and Paris, as part of the company’s continuing expansion in Europe. The US company is based in Seattle, WA.

 

Lexington, MA, based Arbor Networks, a leading provider of network security for global business networks formed a strategic partnership with Switzerland’s Netcloud AG. The Swiss firm is based in Winterthur.

 

Kiehl’s, started in New York City as a pharmacy in 1851, has evolved over the years into a cult skincare and cosmetic brand for the stars. At the beginning of the year the company opened its first store in Zurich and discussions are underway to follow suit with a second store in Geneva.

 

 

Reverse Investments

 

 

BioVeris Corporation of Gaithersburg, MD, is to be acquired by Roche for $21.50 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $600 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2007 subject to shareholder approval.

 

Swiss fragrance and flavors producer Givaudan S.A. will launch a new perfume creation center in East Hanover, NJ. Construction of the center is scheduled to begin this month and to be completed in June of 2008. When finished, it is scheduled to be the most technologically advanced facility of its kind.

 

Roche Holding AG has signed a definitive agreement to purchase the sequencing technology unit, known as 454 Life Sciences, for a reported $155 million. CuraGen Corporation, which owns 454 Life Sciences, is headquartered in Branford, CT.

 

 

From The Foreign Desk

 

 

Chemical company Songwon Industrial Co Ltd, based in South Korea, has opened its European headquarters in Frauenfeld, just outside of Zurich. Songwon International AG will have responsibility for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Western Asia and America.

 

Energy supplier Essent NV, based in The Netherlands, opened an office in Geneva where staffing comprised of local and transferred personnel will reach 30.

 

RussNeft, one of the 10 largest Russian oil companies, has opened an energy trading office in Geneva.

 

German IT company infoteam Software GmbH has established a subsidiary in Stafa, in the Canton of Zurich to serve several highly skilled, rapidly growing life science companies such as Tecan and Qiagen

 

U.K. medical-technology company Smith & Nephew PLC plans to buy Plus Orthopedics Holding AG, a privately held Swiss maker of artificial hips and knees for about $889 million in cash. The deal will help it increase its share in the market for orthopedic reconstruction.

 

UK-based financial services provider, Standard Chartered Bank opened an office in Geneva in response to the growth of the Commodity Corporates business and a 20 per cent increase in the number of clients in the region. The company noted that Geneva has become the largest global financing centre for the commodity trading industry.

 

 

SABMiller, the South Africa-based multinational brewer, has moved its EMEA headquarters from Budapest to Zug. Staffing is expected to reach 25 by mid-summer 2007.

 

Qatar Airways plans to establish a new sales office which will employ about fifteen people in Geneva to service and support the new airline route between Doha-Geneva-Newark scheduled to begin at the end of June. Four flights per week are planned.

 

 

Beflex Electronic Gmbh, a Frickenhausen, Germany based producer of prototypes and electronic components for the medtech sector, will open its first branch in Switzerland in the Technopark Argau about 20 miles from Zurich. Eventually 10 employees will operate a production facility and manage the company’s Swiss market penetration.

 

Sweden’s Atlas Copco Group has agreed to buy the Swiss company, GreenField. GreenField designs, manufactures and markets a range of CNG compressors for use in the automobile sector.

 

California headquartered Mimosa Systems, a specialist in unified information management solutions, has expanded into Europe by opening a new sales office in Munich. The new German office will serve customers and resellers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

 

 

Other News

 

 

According to an article in The Economist, with 16 listings, Switzerland leads the world in terms of top 1,000 companies per thousand people.

 

For the sixth straight year, Zurich and Geneva scored highest with 108.1 and 108. points respectively on the Mercer Human Resources 2007 Quality of Living Survey. Berne, the country’s capital, ranked 9th with 106.5 points. New York City is the index at 100 and ranked 48th.

 

 

The 2006 European Innovation Scoreboard ranks Switzerland 2nd after Sweden among the most innovative countries worldwide.

 

 

The Anholt-GMI Nation Brand Index issued for the fourth quarter of 2006 lists Switzerland as fifth most powerful nation brand in the world.

 

 

Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry, according to the very first ranking of its kind in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007, released by the World Economic Forum.

 

 

Publicity and Promotion

 

 

Releases distributed since our last newsletter:

 

 

March 20: INC Research Charts European Growth from Offices in Switzerland

 

April 3: Insightful Opens Financial Sector Central European Headquarters in Switzerland

 

April 17: Vasco Data Selects Switzerland for European Headquarters

 

 

News from Location Promotion Switzerland