Ivax Unveils $13 Million Restructuring Program

Ivax Corp of the USA has announced that it is implementing a restructuring plan that will result in reduced costs of $20 million a year before tax. The company expects to take a pretax charge in the third quarter of 1996 of $13 million in relation to the restructuring.

The linchpin of the plan is to consolidate manufacturing facilities, which will focus on the acquisition by Ivax in August of Glaxo Wellcome's 275,000 square foot facility in Kirkland, Canada. The acquisition should be completed by the first quarter of 1997. Ivax expects to use the facility and its 165 staff to manufacture certain products for GW, and to contract manufacture for third parties.

Elsewhere, Ivax plans to close its Louisiana facility by the end of the year, and its New York facility will close by the end of the first quarter of 1997. Production from these facilities will be transferred to the Kirkland plant.