IFEZ’s Development Gains Ground

Samsung’s joint venture with Quintiles in Songdo is expected to provide momentum for development

The Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ)’s efforts to develop the Yeongjong and Songdo areas have picked up speed as large companies such as Samsung Group have decided to make investments there. Samsung Group signed a deal with Quintiles at the Samsung Electronics headquarters on Feb. 25 to set up biosimilars production and R&D facilities in the Bio-Medi Park in Songdo International Business District.
The bio business Samsung Group is venturing into is one of the five “new seed” businesses the group plans to nurture as its next-generation growth engines ― bio pharmaceuticals, solar batteries, automobile fuel cells, luminescent diodes and medical equipment. The group earlier unveiled a plan to funnel a total of 23 trillion won into the five business arenas by 2020.
Samsung’s decision to invest in Songdo is forecast to not only lay a foundation for developing the area into the nation’s bio mecca, but to also provide momentum to evolve into a global business center, business sources said.
Earlier, IFEZ officials said on Feb. 24 that Korean Air (KAL) Group plans to pour more than 100 billion won into the Wangsan Marina Project, one of the leading projects in the Yongyu/Muui Tourism/Leisure Development Complex. IFEZA Commissioner Lee Jong-cheol and KAL Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho will discuss the project prior to working-level talks, IFEZ officials said.
Sources familiar to the matter said the KAL side has tentatively agreed to shoulder an estimated 151.7 billion won and the IFEZ would set aside 16.7 billion won for the project.
In a related development, the IFEZ held a workshop to promote ways of attracting investments into the free economic zone on Ganghwa Island March 8-11.
The staff of the IFEZ were divided into two groups to discuss and share information on facilitating the momentum to attract investments into the free economic zone as well as to fortify communal unity and solidarity among them.
SAMSUNG TEAMS UP WITH QUINTILES ― Samsung Group has decided to join forces with Quintiles, the world’s top bio and pharmaceutical services provider, as part of its efforts to make an inroad into the bio and pharmaceutical market.
Samsung Group will establish a joint venture with its strategic foreign investor, Quintiles, with an investment of 300 billion won, Korea’s top conglomerate said.
Samsung Electronics, Samsung Everland, Samsung C&T and Quintiles will invest into the joint venture at a ratio of 40 percent, 40 percent, 10 percent and 10 percent, respectively, on a step-by-step basis by 2012, it said. The Korean business group said it initially will tap the contract research organization business, a segment with high potential for the commercialization of the bio industry.
Quintiles, established in 1982, is a fully integrated pharmaceutical and healthcare services provider offering clinical, commercial, consulting and capital solutions. The company, which raked in approximately $3 billion in sales in 2009, has 20,000 employees in 60 countries and has helped global pharmaceutical makers develop or commercialize many bestselling drugs.
The joint venture will begin the construction of a bio and pharmaceutical plant in the first half of this year, after finishing permit approval and other related administrative procedures, and launch its operation and mass-production in the first half of 2013.
The projected plant will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including a 30,000-liter-class animal cell culture system and produce 600 kg of bio drugs for cancer and arthritis patients, most of which will be exported abroad.
Last May, the group announced a mammoth plan calling for the investment of 23 trillion won in such new businesses as eco-friendly energy and healthcare.
The establishment of the joint venture is the first step in the group’s efforts to tap the bio and pharmaceutical industry. The business group will produce drugs in a full-fledged manner starting in 2016 by pushing ahead with Samsung Electronics’ project to develop biosimilars on top of the implementation of the joint venture project.
In the long-term, the group will promote the convergence of medical businesses based on Samsung Medical Center’s medical treatment, bio and pharmaceutical businesses and Samsung Electronics’ IT technologies.
The group inked an MOA on the construction of the projected bio drug production plant on a lot of about 270,000 m2 within the Incheon Free Economic Zone on Feb. 25. nw

Incheon Mayor Song Young-gil poses with officials from Samsung Group and Quintiles at the Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on Feb. 25 after the two companies signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Songdo International Business District.

Photo by courtesy of IFEZ