July 19, 2000

Acquisition of Shirakawa Plant of Aventis Pharma

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. has begun negotiations to acquire the Shirakawa Plant of Aventis Pharma Ltd.    On July 4, a basic agreement was reached between Ajinomoto Pharma Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ajinomoto, and Aventis Pharma on the acquisition of the Shirakawa Plant. Details are not yet finalized, but items such as asset composition, amount of the transaction and inheritance of employees will be decided in succession.

In December 1999, Ajinomoto acquired the infusion and nutrition business of Hoechst Marion Roussel Ltd. (now Aventis Pharma Ltd.) and established it as Ajinomoto Pharma Co., Ltd.    Ajinomoto Pharma is the first pharmaceutical company in Japan that provides support for Total Nutrition Care, and is performing favorably as the core company in Ajinomoto's pharmaceutical business.

Under the basic agreement, Ajinomoto will purchase Aventis Pharma's Shirakawa Plant, which will serve as a manufacturing facility of Ajinomoto Pharma as well as a production base for tablets and fixatives for the entire pharmaceutical business of the Ajinomoto Group, with the aim of further strengthening its operating base.    The acquisition will bring Ajinomoto its first production base for tablets to complement its Kawasaki and Tokai plants, which produce pharmaceutical bulk active ingredients, powder and granules, and the Saitama Plant of Ajinomoto Pharma, which manufactures infusions.    In concrete terms, this will allow Ajinomoto to shift to in-group manufacturing of certain products for which it now consigns parts of the production process to Aventis Pharma. These include the oral intestinal cleaning solution NIFLEC, the amino acid formulation for renal failure AMIYU Granules, the medication for urea cycle disorders ARGI U Granules, and the antidiabetic agent FASTIC, as well as new drugs in tablets and fixatives that will be launched on the market in the future. This will further strengthen the earnings base of the pharmaceutical business, while creating a bench plant for manufacturing clinical trial pharmaceuticals.

The following is an overview of Aventis Pharma's Shirakawa Plant in its present form:

(1) Address: 103-1, Ushishimizu, Shirasaka-aza, Shirakawa, Fukushima (2) Total area of site: Approx. 67,000m2 (building floor space 16,000m2) (3) Facilities: Production facilities for tablets, capsules, ointments and granules (4) Quality assurance: Global-level GMP and environment, safety and health

 

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