Novartis is the largest company of its kind in Europe in terms of the scale of revenues it generates annually. It already has a few office units in the Irish capital. Bloomberg sources said the Swiss firm is weighing its options on the possibility of occupying a further 100,000 square feet in the city.
The prospect of having the company enhance its presence in Ireland is believed to have been encouraged by the country’s low corporate tax, which stands at 12.5 per cent, and the tax breaks offered by the government on research and development investments.
According to Bloomberg, the development agency IDA Ireland is working with Novartis to help them secure the offices they need going forward. However, the organisation has not been willing to comment on the subject, given that any proposed deal has yet to reach completion.
The IDA has welcomed several commitments to Ireland from companies in similar sectors in recent weeks, with the medical products firm ResMed Inc announcing it will expand its R&D efforts in Dublin and the medical technology group GE Healthcare agreeing to a $10 million investment in Cork recently.
Activity in office space markets across Ireland slowed considerably in the early months of this year, with economic uncertainty cited as the underlying reason for the poor performance after a relatively prosperous 2011.
For its part, Novartis is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical businesses, and it has offices and research facilities across every inhabited continent. Its headquarters were specially built for its purposes less than a decade ago and are in the Swiss city of Basel.
Editor’s notes: As of July 2012, Novartis listed its Dublin office address as Elm Park Business Campus on Merrion Road in Dublin 4 on its website.