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Life Sciences

Few sectors have experienced the scale of change seen in the Life Sciences industry. To help you establish and operate the real estate base that best suits your operations, we have created a Europe-wide Life Sciences team.

While most companies are strong in their home markets, many have limited market share elsewhere and are seeking opportunities to grow, often by merger or acquisition. Against this, the industry is under pressure: growing costs of R&D and marketing; long development lead times; fiercer competition; government pressures on pricing; and legal challenges on patents and performance.

We see pharmaceutical clients having to juggle these pressures and opportunities to determine where to focus their business efforts and what scale of operation is optimum. This has an immediate bearing on real estate requirements.

We are helping Life Sciences companies finance and deliver change in the following ways:

Refinancing assets on the balance sheet

Refinancing real estate assets can enhance company performance and stock market value. The principal benefits are:

- to release money for development of the core business
- to streamline financial performance and render the company less vulnerable
- often to generate an improved gearing.

Reconfiguring administrative buildings

This is particularly relevant where a company has restructured its operation, or has occupied the same premises for a lengthy period of time. The main benefits for a company are:

- reduction in costs by limiting the amount of space taken in city centre locations to functions that really need to be there
- bringing together functions that will benefit from working more cleverly together
- purpose-built space for tomorrow's operations
- more efficient, modern high tech premises
- a better working environment for staff.

Rationalisation/Expansion

In some cases, the recent merger & acquisition activity in the sector has left companies with surplus space (be it production, R&D, administrative or distribution). In others, growth away from traditional, home markets is generating a need for additional space. These two aims can be matched to the satisfaction of all parties, with careful analysis and planning.

We are represented in more countries of Europe than any other real estate Consultant, with a local pharmaceutical property expert in each market. We are able to conclude your transactions with the advantage of local market knowledge and pharmaceutical expertise. Moreover we have a strong global representation that enables our pharmaceutical clients to develop across markets and continents.

Management and valuation

A global team of 5,000 provides services in property management, project management and consultancy; while valuations are provided on individual premises or global portfolios for accounts purposes, Stock Exchange requirements, unit trust pricing, capital and other taxation purposes.

Benchmarking

Our work for many companies gives us an insight into industry norms and enables us to offer you a benchmarked performance comparison.

The Style

As major employers in a publicly sensitive sector, Life Sciences companies are high profile. We recognise therefore the paramount need for discretion in working for Life Sciences clients. We understand too the comfort that comes from feeling fully in control, so we take particular care over reporting and communication. We will provide updates, often real-time, in a format agreed with you. We are able to create for you a database that will enhance your knowledge and control over your real estate portfolio.

Our Track Record

We have in recent years worked for some of the world's biggest and best pharmaceutical companies. Amgen, Boehringer & Ingelheim, Chiron, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis are just some of the companies who have trusted us with their real estate demands.

Our assistance has ranged from simpler, one-off projects in individual markets to on-going strategic relationships. This, combined with our experience in working for other industry sectors means that there is unlikely to be a real estate issue arising that we have not previously tackled with success.

Contact Us

For further information, please contact:

Edinburgh
Angela Lowe
+44 131 226 8758

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