Cook Group plans to sell Cook Pharmica to New Jersey biologic and pharmaceutical company Catalent for $950 million, the Bloomington-based company announced in a release Tuesday.
Cook Group also plans to acquire the General Electric property on North Curry Pike, which closed last August. Cook intends to complete both transactions in the fourth quarter of this year, the company announced in the release.
The company plans to add 500 jobs in the new facility and its other headquarters and plans to invest about $125 million in the new facility over the next decade.
“We only consider opportunities like this when it clearly benefits the patients we serve, our employees, the community and both companies,” Pete Yonkman, Cook Group's president, said in the release. “In this case, we feel confident that this is a good decision for all involved, including the more than 750 Cook Pharmica employees whose jobs are all secure. All of those employees will become part of Catalent’s growing biologics business and remain under the leadership of Cook Pharmica’s president, Tedd Green.”
Mayor John Hamilton responded positively to the company's plan to acquire the land previously occupied by the GE facility, and he said his administration was happy to welcome Catalent to town as the area's third life-science company.
“This plan to reuse a major industrial facility and add hundreds of jobs to our local economy shows their unwavering and decades-long commitment to this community, our people, and our future," Hamilton said in a release Tuesday.
Jesse Naranjo
