The University of Kentucky is handing over one of its Coldstream Research Park properties to an Indian pharmaceutical company for the tidy sum of $30 million dollars.
Piramal Enterprises, based out of Mumbai, is set to acquire UK’s Coldstream Laboratories in a move university spokesman Jay Blanton said was always on the horizon.
"This was a company that was spun off and located out at the Coldstream Research Campus, where obviously we have a lot of efforts that are aimed at trying to commercialize the reseach of our innovative faculty and other researchers," he says. "The idea was always that we would probably reach a point where, to take a company like that to the next level, there would be a sale, an acquisition, and a private partner."
Piramal plans to make the former UK property its pharmaceutical beachhead in North America. Officials say the company expects to keep the facility’s 97 employees on staff.
The deal required approval by the UK Research Foundation and the UK Board of Trustees. Blanton says he's unaware of any other university-owned Coldstream properties up for sale.