Bayer foresees US$ 100 million in investments in 2010
Valor Econômico
German multinational Bayer will invest R$ 180 million (US$ 100 million) in Brazil this year, growth of 12.5% on the investments made last year. All divisions of the company, which operates in the areas of human and animal health, besides chemicals, should be expanded, with the enlargement of the installed laboratories, of the headquarters of the group in the country and also with the creation of a new business division, Bayer Technology Services.
Of the investments foreseen for 2010, nearly R$ 21 million (US$ 11.7 million) should be invested by Graham, a partner of the multinational, in the industrial park of Bayer in Belford Roxo (RJ), where five companies share infrastructure with the group. Over the past 11 years, the company invested nearly R$ 1.1 billion (US$ 611 million) in the country. The company informed it will take part in the Pomar program of the Secretariat for the Environment of the State of São Paulo. The plant of contraceptives of the group, installed in the São Paulo neighborhood of Santo Amaro, should also increase its production of medicines. This unit, which last year completed 50 years, produces nearly 2.2 million pills a year.
Last year, the company registered earnings of R$ 3.8 billion (US$ 1.93 billion), an increase of 3% compared to the previous year, said Horstfried Laepple, President of the company in Brazil. The net profit of the company in the country was R$ 88 million (US$ 44.7 million), 46% less than in 2008. The global earnings of the company retreated 5.7% to € 31.2 billion.
Launchings of new medicines and expansion of the area of animal health are also part of Bayer's plans for Brazil. One of the largest chemical-pharmaceutical multinationals of the world, the company believes Brazil will be one of the vectors of growth of the group in the international market in the coming years.
Brazil currently represents the seventh largest market for Bayer in the world, with 4% of the total sales made by the group. The goal of the company in the country is to elevate the position to the fifth place in the ranking of the multinational, said Laepple. "Brazil is already the country of the future". The countries of the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China), together, account for 14% of the annual revenue of the company.