The University of Michigan announced that it will purchase Pfizer's Ann Arbor, MI plant for just $108 million--hundreds of millions less than what Pfizer has invested in the site over the years. It seems the difficult economic market contributed to the bargain price as many interested parties were unable to secure enough cash to afford the campus. Thus, with the aid of an endowment, the University was able to secure the site for the "shockingly cheap price," explains the Ann Arbor Business Review.
The 174-acre campus boasts almost 2 million square feet of lab and office space in 30 buildings. UMich will employ 2,000 people at the site and will use the facilities to conduct its own biomedical research, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pfizer made the decision to leave the plant in January 2007 and has been looking for a buyer since then. It's the site where its blockbuster drug, Lipitor, came to be.
This is Pfizer's second sale this week. Portuguese contract manufacturer Hovione recently purchased Pfizer's Cork, Ireland plant.
- read the University of Michigan's release
- see the Ann Arbor Business Review article
- here's the WSJ report