News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Business

January 25, 2012

Lilly brand acquiring Terre Haute manufacturer

ChemGen will become part of Elanco’s animal health division

TERRE HAUTE — Eli Lilly and Co. is acquiring an animal health company with manufacturing operations in Terre Haute.

Elanco, the animal health division of Eli Lilly, is acquiring ChemGen, which employs about 24 people at its location on South First Street. Elanco employs more than 400 people at a manufacturing facility in Clinton in Vermillion County.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of this quarter, company officials announced Tuesday.

Terms of the acquisition were not released.

There were no plans to make changes at the Terre Haute ChemGen facility, said Jeff Simmons, president of Elanco Animal Health.

“What have here is a tremendous platform of science and products that come from ChemGen,” Simmons told reporters in a telephone conference call Tuesday afternoon. “A manufacturing facility in Indiana. A research facility in Maryland. And we will acquire and we will keep them as they are.”

ChemGen, profiled on the Tribune-Star’s front page late last year, makes animal feed enzymes that help animals digest food more efficiently, saving farmers money and increasing productivity. Elanco has expertise in fermentation and feed additives.

The acquisition makes sense in many ways, Simmons said.

“They have a lot of expertise in Asia and North America,” Simmons said. “We do in Latin America and Europe. … We’ve got a lot of focus in [cattle], dairy and beef and they in pigs and poultry, so we see a species synergy as well.”

This is Elanco’s fifth acquisition in five years, Simmons noted.

When asked specifically about plans for the Terre Haute facility, Simmons said details have yet to be worked out, but said Elanco’s intention is expand operations here and in Clinton.

“Our intention, fully, is to grow and expand this,” Simmons said. “That will bring, we believe opportunities. How we’ll do that, we’re still going to have to work through that between our companies, but we’re excited about the capabilities in western Indiana and what this means when we combine this together.”

Steve Witt, president of the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp., said Elanco has been a great employer in Vermillion County and the acquisition is exciting news for Terre Haute.

“I think [ChemGen] is very complementary to Elanco’s existing business,” Witt said Tuesday. Combined with the recent announcement by NantWorks, a pharmaceutical company, to invest in the Vigo County industrial park, “this just maintains our historic position in the life science industry,” Witt added.

In the past, Elanco’s acquisitions have led to growth, Simmons said.

“This is our fifth acquisition and … in each case we’ve expanded and grown, and we’ve built on the best from both acquisitions. And that’s the intent here with ChemGen. So we’re excited to join them, have them join our team. Probably the most exciting time in our 58-year history,” he said.

Bernie Treidl, president of ChemGen, said Tuesday the decision to sell the business he founded was “very tough.” However, Treidl said, from the perspective of ChemGen’s workforce and its customers, “it made a lot of sense to consider a merger and acquisition with Elanco. It became very clear to us how much they could add, actually, to our organization and the opportunities that they would provide for our folks at the company” and our customers, Treidl said.

Treidl will retain an “integral leadership part in the transition,” Simmons said.



Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

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