Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Encouraging Sign: New Merck's Dutch Facility -- In Oss -- To See $30 Million New Investment


Bloomberg is the first service out with a squib, this morning, from an e-mailed Merck statement. Without the local color, it is hard to tell -- but this may well be part of the negotiated settlement/cessation of hostilities with the concerned parties, over a prior, allegedly unlawful proposal by MSD, a Merck subsidiary in the Netherlands, to declare over 4,500 legacy Organon BioSciences workers (acquired in October 2008 by old Schering-Plough -- which Merck in turn acquired in November 2009), at the Oss facility redundant:

. . . .Merck & Co. plans to invest $30 million in expanding its production capacity for biotechnology raw materials in Oss, the Netherlands, the company said today in an e-mailed statement. . . .

Despite today's $30 million new investment, it is still likely that some percentage of these originally-declared-redundant workers will be let go -- absent an earlier rumored deal, to sell the facility intact to a European buyer. We'll keep you posted.

Hey! Wait, that makes this "Oss debacle" another candidate for the "Hassan Hangover" table. I'll go add it now, below.

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