BASF relocating global management of pharma unit to Florham Park

BASF’s New Jersey operation is getting more responsibility.

The German chemical manufacturer is set to announce today that it will be relocating the global headquarters of its Pharma Ingredients & Services business from Switzerland to BASF’s North American hub in Florham Park.

The unit, the largest of BASF’s to serve the pharmaceutical industry, supplies drugmakers with active ingredients and inactive ones known as excipients, as well as provides custom synthesis services and laboratory support.

The relocation marks the first expansion of operations at BASF’s five-story, 325,000 square-foot headquarters in Florham Park, which opened in May.

But it won’t bring many new jobs to New Jersey right away — all of the business unit’s production sites will remain intact across the globe. Instead, the move will centralize the unit’s global management in New Jersey, and under new leadership.

BASF promoted Scott Thomson, 42, to senior vice president in charge of pharma ingredients and services unit. Most recently a vice president for the company’s North American market and customer development unit, Thomson is taking over for Martin Widmann, who was tapped to head the company fuel and lubricant solutions unit in Germany.

Over the next six months, three other global management positions in the pharma ingredients unit are slated to be relocated from Switzerland to Florham Park.

While the move does not give the company any production efficiencies, it does put the unit closer to many of its pharmaceutical clients and partners, Thomson said. Long term, he hopes to increase the number of workers in the unit locally, he added.