Seoul [South Korea], September 24 : South Korea's Celltrion Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire Eli Lilly and Company's U.S. biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility, eliminating its tariff-related risks in the U.S. market. The purchase price was USD 330 million, as per a report by Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business Newspaper Korea.
The acquisition price is around 460 billion won (USD 330 million), with total investment, including planned expansion, expected to reach 1.4 trillion won (USD 1.008 billion).
The report stated that Celltrion, on Tuesday, announced its U.S. subsidiary signed a contract on Saturday to acquire 100 per cent of the Branchburg, New Jersey biopharmaceutical production facility owned by Imclone Systems Holdings, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly.
Additionally, an initial investment of approximately 700 billion won (approximately USD 504 million), including operating costs, will be injected into Celltrion USA through a paid-in capital increase.
This final contract came just two months after Celltrion was selected as the preferred bidder in late July.
"The 1.4 trillion won total investment (including expansion) is far more cost-efficient than building a new plant in Korea," the report quoted Celltrion Group Chairman Seo Jung-jin, during an online press briefing.
"We expect to save around 1.5 trillion won (USD 1.08 billion) through tariff risk elimination, secured facilities, workforce availability, and reduced logistics costs, not to mention saving over six years of construction time."
The Branchburg facility spans 148,760 square meters and houses production facilities, warehouses and technical support buildings. An additional 36,363 square meters of unused land offers room for expansion, which would lift capacity to 1.5 times that of Celltrion's plant in Songdo.
"The deal also includes a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) agreement with Eli Lilly. Roughly half of the facility will continue producing Lilly's products, securing immediate revenue streams and enabling faster recovery of the investment. Starting late next year, the plant will produce both Celltrion's own drugs and Lilly's products under CMO contracts," the report said.
Celltrion projected an EBITDA of 1.7 trillion won (USD 1.224 billion) this year and over 3 trillion won (USD 2.16 billion) in 2026, providing ample funding for growth.
Seo Jung-jin noted that in 2026, roughly one-third of EBITDA will be returned to shareholders, one-third will go to research and development, and the rest will be held as reserves or used for facility investments.
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