The Olds Banner Pharmacaps plant will be sold to a Calgary-based supplements company. Patheon Inc., a pharmaceutical company headquartered in North Carolina that bought Banner in December for $255 million US, announced on Sept.
The Olds Banner Pharmacaps plant will be sold to a Calgary-based supplements company.
Patheon Inc., a pharmaceutical company headquartered in North Carolina that bought Banner in December for $255 million US, announced on Sept. 27 that it has reached an agreement with Advanced Orthomolecular Research for the sale of the Banner plant.
The sale is expected to close on Oct. 31.
Patheon had announced in March that it will permanently close the Olds plant on Oct. 31.
The plant, which has operated in Olds for 32 years and develops and manufactures soft gel pharmaceutical and nutritional products, employed more than 100 people at the time the closure was announced.
As of Sept. 27, 105 people were working at the plant.
At the time of the closure announcement, Patheon's chief administrative officer, James Mullen, said the closure is part of a company-wide downsizing effort to make its operations more cost-effective and efficient and will save the company roughly $8 million.
According to its website, Advanced Orthomolecular Research creates health supplements.
"At Advanced Orthomolecular Research our mission is to provide discerning consumers with the highest quality, scientifically supported natural health products," the website states.
Advanced Orthomolecular Research did not respond to the Albertan's requests for comment and Patheon said it had no further comment on whether the sale of the Banner plant in Olds will preserve the jobs of those currently working at the plant.
Norm McInnis, the Town of Olds' chief administrative officer, said the town helped the provincial government direct a number of companies that expressed interest in buying the plant to the plant's owners and managers.
"There's various programs at the provincial level for investment readiness," he said. "When opportunities come up, we often get calls saying 'You know, there's this type of investor that's looking for a particular piece of land or facility.' So we've had a couple of those calls from the province."
But McInnis added he didn't know whether Advanced Orthomolecular Research was one of those companies.
"There were a number of groups that came to us through the provincial government. Whether this purchaser was one of them, I'm not sure."
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