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SWISS BUSINESS NEWS
SUMMER 2002
Top of the News
Giving a further push to its on-
Wins and Updates
The Australian Wheat Board, Australia's national grain marketing organization, has selected Geneva for its European headquarters, joining Cargill, Sungrain and Bunge already in the city. One third of the world's cereal trading is effected via Geneva, representing some $6.5 billion annually.
Geneva is also the site of the new European headquarters for LG Chem Ltd., Korea's largest chemical company.
Central Parking Corporation, based in Nashville, is establishing an initial base in Switzerland by working with the City of Biel to operate a facility at the Biel railway station.
Tektronix, the Beaverton, OR, based test, measurement, and monitoring company providing measurement solutions to the communications, computer, and semiconductor industries worldwide, is opening its EMEA headquarters in Schaffhausen.
Bulova, the U.S. watch company established in 1875, is establishing its European headquarters in Fribourg.
Dow Europe GmbH, is substantially expanding its European headquarters facilities in Horgen through construction of a new R&D facility. The company has been in Switzerland since 1957.
Johnson & Johnson announced an expansion in Neuchatel as its Ethicon affiliate adds a line of products to stop bleeding in surgery. This is expected to result in the addition of 90 new employees over the next two years.
California-
Compass Group Plc, the world's biggest catering group, received approval from the United Kingdom's competition authorities to purchase Restorama AG, Rail Gourmet Holding AG and Gourmet Nova from the former Swissair Group for a reported $58 million.
Also in the United Kingdom, NTL Inc., the country's leading cable TV group, received an offer from US based Liberty Media for the purchase of Swiss unit Cablecom. NTL has pledged to initiate Cablecom's sale.
San Diego, CA based Maxwell Technologies, Inc., acquired Montena Components, Ltd. a privately held Swiss manufacturer of ultracapacitors and energy storage systems. Montena Components' headquarters and main production facility is located in Rossens, Switzerland. Montena generated approximately $23 million in revenue in the past year. More about Maxwell
at www.maxwell.com.
Sensient Technologies Corporation, based in Milwaukee, WI, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange bought ECS Specialty Ink and Dyes. ECS, with reported revenues of approximately $12 million last year, is based in Morges. The Swiss acquisition, along with a German one earlier this year, establishes a strategic base for Sensient's rapidly growing inks and dyes business in Europe.
VHS Networking, Inc., based in Ontario, Canada, announced reaching an agreement to acquire Girex Bancorp, Inc. Girex provides an international banking and trading facility that facilitates bill payment, purchases, money transfers and stock trades globally over the web. Girex currently has an office in Canada and in Uzwill.
Kroll, Inc., the global risk and security services company, announced that it had agreed to purchase Ontrack Data International in an all stock transaction. Ontrack, which reported 2001 revenues of about $55 million last year, specializes in recovering data from operating systems and
storage devices. Ontrack, based in Minneapolis, WI has additional offices globally, including in Lugano.
Amgen, the world's largest biotech company, announced that it has purchased the assets and business related to Roche's filgrastim and pegfilgrastim in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland. The sale resulted from Roche's earlier purchase of Chugai in Japan, which produces a competing drug. The Amgen acquisition enhances the American company's Swiss footprint.
Other News
Switzerland and Sweden tied for second place with a score of 8.4 out of a "perfect 10" on the 2002 Bribe Payers Index published by Transparency International. Australia ranked first with 8.5; the US ranked 13th with a 5.3. Switzerland moved up from 7.7 in 1999. Rankings are based on responses to the question "In the business sectors with which you are most familiar, please indicate how likely companies from the following countries are to pay or offer bribes to win or
retain business in this country [respondent's country of residence]?"
In another competitiveness survey recently published, Switzerland ranks 4th in the Cato Institute Economic Freedom Report for 2002, based on data from 2000. Hong Kong ranks first, followed by Singapore, the U.S., and the U.K. New Zealand rounds out the top five.
Other news about the overall economy remains mixed. According to a KPMG study of mergers and acquisition activity in Switzerland, there were 204 mergers or takeovers in country during the first half of the year. This represents a 32% reduction from the same period the prior year. On the upside, however, Switzerland enjoyed a strong first quarter in venture capital investing, with the VC activity level increasing by 48% compared to the first quarter of 2001. E&Y and Venture One conducted the surveys.
Things reportedly also look promising on the biotechnology front. According to the Annual Life Science Report released by E&Y at the Bio 2002 Conference in Toronto, the product pipeline looks healthy and financial support of the industry is on the rise. With 319 products in preclinical or clinical trials in Europe (24 of which are in Switzerland), the biotech industry is a major player in Europe. The industry is responsible for about one fifth of the total European capital turnover.
Geneva based Serono SA, Europe's largest biotech company, reportedly will purchase
French biotech company Genset SA for $ 104 million. The Paris-
In another example of industry consolidation, Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke (NOK) received EU clearance to purchase 24.5% of Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke owned by German energy giant E.ON. Through the deal, NOK will control about 40% of the fragmented Swiss electricity market. There will be a public vote on energy deregulation in Switzerland in September.
Logitech, the company famous for its production of the computer mouse, has been voted
the most dynamic Swiss firm by business magazine, Bilanz. Based in canton Vaud, Logitech
reported its best-
With its first entry into the European mineral water market, the United States soft
drinks giant Coca-
On this side of the Atlantic, Nestle SA, the world's biggest food and drink company,
announced that it will assume majority control of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc.
The move is the latest in a series of ice-
Publicity and Promotion
Shared service and headquarters facilities will be highlighted in the 6th Location:
Switzerland+ media tour scheduled for the week of October 6 -
Press releases distributed since our last newsletter covered Alcoa consolidating
business units in Switzerland, Autodesk's first non-
In the queue: Bulova's new European headquarters in Fribourg, Australian Wheat Board and LG Chemicals headquarters in Geneva, Dow Europe's expansion in Horgen and MDS Pharma's expansion in Zurich.
News from Location Promotion Switzerland
