Pfizer rejects UK European HQ in favour of Germany

Pfizer has rejected plans to build a new European headquarters in the UK and has chosen Germany instead, it has been revealed.

The world’s largest pharmaceutical company already employs approximately 6,900 staff in its UK sites and had mooted opening a European headquarters in Surrey, where in 2001 the company had opened 75 million pounds UK commercial headquarters in Walton Oaks.

However, the UK’s strict planning rules appeared to have been too big a hurdle for Pfizer, who also had options on the continent to consider, according to the Observer.

A spokesman for Pfizer told the newspaper: “The expansion would have taken place over several years, but the business planning required a commitment from the UK management within a couple of months that they could deliver the required facilities in due course.”

“However, experience of the timescales and uncertainty in planning applications in the region meant that the UK management was unable to give such an undertaking in the required time, and the opportunity was declined,” he added.

The spokesman concluded: “Instead, the company decided to distribute the jobs in other EU countries, and the opportunity to develop a genuine EU-leading role for the UK site was lost.”
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fizer recently sold its manufacturing facility in Morpeth, Northumberland, to Nicholas Piramal, an Indian pharmaceutical company. Nicholas Piramal said it hoped to gain a “strategic entry” into Pfizer’s global sourcing network. The Morpeth plant makes pain control, ulcer and arthritis prevention drugs.

The company claims to be the NHS’ top supplier of medicines and some two million patients in the UK were prescribed a Pfizer drug in each month of 2005.

© Adfero Ltd