Volume 11,
No. 1 Fall 2007
On the Web
at www.locationswitzerland.com
On
September 20, Autodesk, CEMEX, Electronic Arts, Kyphon and Microsoft received
from Swiss Ambassador to the U.S. Urs Ziswiler Tell Awards for Switzerland’s
most significant inward investment projects by North American firms in 2006.
The awards are named for the Swiss legendary hero William Tell. Winners become
the newest members of the Tell Society, which already includes Celgene Corp.,
eBay, Google, Procter & Gamble, Amgen, Stryker Corporation, IBM and
Verisign.
Ashburn, Virginia based
Brainware, Inc., opened a new office for EMEA operations in Neuchatel. The company is a leader in the high
speed document capture market, which is expected to double in size in the next
few years. Current staffing in Switzerland is expected to reach 30.
Virginia based DeltaGee has
established its European R&D and IP operations in Biel, Switzerland. The young firm, founded in 2001,
already has 17 patents and others pending in various areas designed to improve
the efficiency of motors and the reduction of exhaust emissions. The project is expected to generate up
to 70 new jobs over the next several years and a multi-million dollar
investment.
California search engine company Yahoo! announced that it will be
establishing its European Data Center in Avenches, Canton Vaud. Yahoo will
purchase a Greenfield site measuring thirty-six thousand square meters for a
reported 4.8 million SFr. Upon
completion, the data center is expected to employ a few dozen persons.
Florida-based American
Radiologist Network Inc. (AMRADNET), a provider of radiological, cardio-care
and critical health information services, has acquired Zurich-based ViewTec AG,
a spin-off from the University of Zurich. ViewTec's core business covers the
fields of virtual reality, 3D computer graphics, medical imaging and
visualization.
Lazard Ltd.
has opened its first office in Switzerland as part of its push to expand its
European financial-advisory business. Lazard said the launch of the office in
Zurich will allow it to "expand our financial advisory services to the
Swiss market, where we already have established corporate relationships."
Tiger Global Management, a
New York based investment company, reportedly bought a majority interest in
Jobs.ch, a Swiss online employment company.
Galenica Group, one of the
leading Swiss pharmaceutical and logistics providers, announced that it has
entered into an agreement to acquire Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, a Victoria, BC-based
pharmaceutical research and development company. Reportedly the deal is valued at USD 915 million. The deal is still subject to
shareholders and Canadian competition authority approvals.
Swiss pharma giant Roche
will purchase Madison, Wisconsin-based NimbleGen for a reported $273 million in
an attempt to build its position in the genomics research market. NimbleGen was founded in late 1999 with
technology licensed from the University of Wisconsin and today has 140
employees.
Swiss electrical engineering
group Von Roll Holdings AG acquired New Jersey-based John C. Dolph
Company. Dolph has last year sales
of $13 million in resins and varnishes for the electrical insulation industry.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based
Radius Health Inc. has entered into a strategic alliance with Novartis to
develop and market a Phase 2 osteoporosis drug candidate. Rights would include all markets other
than Japan and could bring the company up to an estimated $500 million.
From The Foreign Desk
German pharma wholesaler Phoenix
Pharmahandel AG has reportedly acquired a majority stake in Swiss sector
company Amedis Holding AG based in Basel.
Phoenix is active in 19 European countries and is the second largest
wholesaler/distributor of pharmaceuticals on the Continent.
Designerdock, the largest
communications employment agency in German-speaking Europe, has opened a
subsidiary in Zurich. The parent
firm was founded in Berlin ten years ago and today has a staff of 20 employees
throughout Europe.
Nissan Europe has announced
the relocation of its European headquarters from the Paris region to Rolle in
the canton of Vaud, Approximately 100 executives will be involved in the
transfer, which should begin early 2008.
Ray Sono, a provider of
Internet-based solutions for electronic business processes headquartered in
Germany, has decided to open a subsidiary in Zurich. Cited as reasons for the
move were infrastructure, public transport, tax benefits, social and cultural
life, educational resources and technology transfer, and the availability of
well trained employees.
The Swiss branch of French bank Credit
Agricole SA is to expand its logistics center in Vennes, north of Lausanne,
with the construction of a new building worth 20 million Swiss francs.
Currently employing about 300, the bank expects to add 200 additional jobs at
the site by 2009.
Sydney, Australia-based company Phoenix Global has opened an office in
Zug. The company provides risk
management and investigative solutions.
Also in Zug, Bermuda-based Montpelier Re
Holdings Ltd, a provider of global property and casualty insurance and
reinsurance products, started operations in September to direct their
activities in Europe and the Middle East.
The State Oil Company of
Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), one of the largest oil companies in the world,
announced that it will create a representative office in Geneva
Paris-based international
shipbroker Barry Rogliano Salles (BRS) has opened up a new office in Geneva “to
serve the growing number of shipowners, oil companies and traders located
there.” BRS will initially focus its efforts to Tanker Chartering and
Newbuilding Projects with a team of four brokers.
Other
News
Andre Guedel, who has been with
Location: Switzerland since 1998 most recently as Director of the organization’s
operations in North America, will leave at the end of November to take up a new
position with CITCO Corporate Services in Geneva. We wish Andre well in his new career and gratefully
acknowledge his many contributions to the growing success of the LS program. Effective January 2008, LS will be merged
with OSEC, the Swiss export agency which operates overseas under the logo Swiss
Business Network Switzerland.
The World Economic Forum’s 2007-08
Global Competitiveness Report ranks Switzerland 2nd after the United
States among 131 of the world’s most competitive economies. Switzerland is credited with an
excellent capacity for innovation, a sophisticated business culture,
outstanding scientific research institutions and strong intellectual property
protection.
The Economic Freedom of the World
Index, published by the Canada based Fraser Institute, ranks Switzerland as the
“freest” economy in Europe in 2007.
Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand lead the rankings of the 141
countries assessed based upon a market basked of 42 different criteria. For more info, see www.fraserinstitute.ca.
The Travel Section of the Sunday New
York Times of
September 16th had a glowing article on Geneva on its traditional 36
Hours page.
Releases
distributed since our last Newsletter
September
17 – Switzerland announces winners of significant investment projects for
2006
October 10
– CHS Inc. establishes EMEA Headquarters in Switzerland
October 24
– Diebold Establishes EMEA Headquarters in Switzerland
For further
information or registration log onto www.locationswitzerland.com/html/events.html
November 9,
European Business Breakfast, Kansas City, MO
December 3,
Business Seminar, Mexico City
December 6,
Business Seminar, Miami, FL (during Art Basel Miami Beach, Dec. 6-9)
January
8-11, BIOMelbourne: JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, San Francisco, CA
January 10,
IBC Colorado Economist Event, Denver, CO
March 3-7 Seminar, Rio de JaneiroSao
Paulo, Brazil
March 9-12,
CFO Rising Conference, Orlando
March
31-April 4, North America Shared Services Week 2008, FL
April 20
– 26, 16th Media Tour, Sports and Business
SwissInk
More
results from the Energy Media Tour
Vivian Song
wrote on the receding glaciers in the August 5 issues of Canada’s Sun
newspapers and produced a video on the same including interviews with Bertrand
Piccard and a spot on the Solar Taxi.
HK Kim has
produced several articles for Korea’s Weekly Energy Economic News. Topics included a general
introduction of Swiss activity in energy; R&D centers in the Greater Zurich
Area including Technopark, Flisom and SPF in Rapperswil; the Sustainable Energy
Forum, KKI, Cemex, and the Paul Scherer Institute.
Helen Wang
wrote a 4-page 4-color article on the tour in Sanlinian Life Weekly and a 2-page 4-color article on the
Solar Impulse and Solar Taxi in China Entrepreneur.
Luis
Merino, our guest from Madrid, wrote a 5-page, 4-color article titled
“Switzerland: the Sun inside the laboratory” in the September issue of Renewable
Energy.
Nicola
Ross, executive editor of Canada’s Alternatives Journal wrote an editorial
titled “Finding a New Altitude” based on Dr. Piccard’s presentation at the
European Sustainable energy Forum.
Additional coverage is expected in this publication.
October 31,
2007