Sanofi Genzyme Biomanufacturing Center Sells To Wheelock Street Capital
A private equity firm is betting on an anticipated biomanufacturing boom, buying a Sanofi Genzyme distribution facility in Central Massachusetts.
An affiliate of Wheelock Street Capital purchased 11 Forbes Road in Northborough last week from Chicago-based investment company Capri EGM for $33M, according to Worcester County land records. The 250K SF property was renovated out of a former Poland Spring distribution facility.
“We believe the pandemic has only increased the need for these types of assets and have highlighted their importance,” Capri EGM co-Chairman and CEO Shelby Pruett said in a statement Thursday.
Wheelock Street Capital, which controls the LLC listed as the buyer, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Capri EGM bought 11 Forbes for $20M in 2016 as a long-term net-leased facility for Sanofi Genzyme. Capri EGM describes the property as in the Boston-Cambridge market, although Northborough sits almost 40 miles away from Kendall Square.
The sale is the second significant transaction involving a Sanofi manufacturing plant in the past week, as biomanufacturing emerges as a hot asset in the sky-high life sciences market.
One of the Boston market’s most visible manufacturing plants, the Sanofi Genzyme building on the Charles River bordering Allston and Cambridge, is also set to change hands. Contract development and manufacturing organization National Resilience announced last week it acquired the 310K SF site for an undisclosed price, pledging to keep on the 250 soon-to-be-former Sanofi employees, BioProcess International reported. The terms of the deal were not made public as of Thursday.
