As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, on Wednesday, the Japanese mega-company Nipro Corporation Japan presented its investment of more than 100 million kuna in a Sesvete factory, where they are building a new ampoule and vial factory for the pharmaceutical industry – Nipro Pharma Packaging Hrvatska.
As is already known, last spring, Nipro Corporation Japan bought the former Piramida factory in Sesvete from the Blue Sea Capital fund, which was recently declared the most successful acquisition of the entire year.
As they revealed during a recent tour of the construction site and plant, Nipro Japan has chosen this Sesvete factory as its Global Centre of Excellence in the production of glass ampoules. The Sesvete factory is already working significantly more than the initial expectations and growing faster than was planned, and is currently among the three leading players in the production of ampoules and vials for medicines in the whole world.
In Sesvete, almost two million ampoules and vials for filling various medicines around the world are produced daily. To be more specific, Blue Sea Capital fund has already invested significant funds in the modernisation of production, the acquisition of eight new production lines and the development of business with bottles.
Under the ownership of Blue Sea Capital, Piramida managed to increase its number of employees by 35 percent and doubled its production capacity and revenues, and the company was among the five largest manufacturers of glass ampoules for the pharmaceutical industry on the European market during last year’s takeover.
After the completion of this investment, an additional increase in production to more than two and a half million ampoules and vials per day is expected, as are fifty new jobs.
Kresimir Secak, a member of the board of Nipro Pharma Packaging Hrvatska, revealed that in the near future, sterile glass injections will be produced in the Sesvete factory, which are one of the most demanding products into which medicines are filled.
“In the Sesvete factory, we produce more than 650 million glass containers a year, which are filled with medicines that save or help human lives around the world, and we’re extremely proud of that. For management and our workers, this decision to become a Global Centre of Excellence for ampoules, as well as the continuation of investments, is great international recognition. This recognition is the result of the hard work, expertise and dedication of our employees that they have shown over the past decades,” said Secak.
Nipro’s global revenue back in 2021 was 3.5 billion euros, and Nipro Hrvatska’s stood at 14.3 million euros. Secak revealed that this year they expect that growth to accelerate and revenue to increase to 16.2 million euros, and simpler operations next year will be enabled thanks to Croatia finally joining the Eurozone.
Stephan Arnold, the CEO of Nipro Pharma Packaging International confirmed that the company has ambitious growth plans for Croatia. “We’re increasing our capacities and expanding our technical capabilities to more locations, but in Croatia specifically, we’re rapidly accelerating our investment plans. We have established synergy with other factories in our production network and are setting up centres of excellence across the entire Nipro group. Nipro Pharma Packaging Hrvatska has been selected as Nipro’s Global Centre of Excellence in ampoule production,” said Arnold.
The Japanese ambassador to the Republic of Croatia, Iso Masato, also assessed Croatia’s entry into the Eurozone and Schengen as a positive thing, assessing that this, as well as Croatia’s new good credit ratings, will further open up and attract foreign investments to the country, possibly more Japanese ones as well.
“Nipro’s investment in the Sesvete factory is proof that Japanese investors see the potential Croatia has. There is also interest from others, and we want the year 2023, in which we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations, to be good for our economic relations as well,” said Masato.
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