A Spanish company that makes animal vaccines and health products plans to build its U.S. headquarters at the Iowa State University Research Park in Ames. Research park directors, Steve Carter, says the Hipra company will receive some two-point-four million dollars in state and local incentives to build its new building.
Carter says it will be the corporate headquarters along with a animal pharmaceutical production facility and a “significant research and development component, that is in recognition of the types of science that is being done at Iowa State and the potential collaboration and the benefits that the company might be able to derive from that.” Iowa State University and Ames are the home to several animal research facilities.
Carter says the company would like to start construction next spring and ramp up its production as it gets regulatory approvals to begin operations. Carter says they will eventually employ some 80 people and they will be highly technical jobs. He says the average wage of employees currently working at the companies in the I.S.U. Research Park is in excess of 60-thousand dollars.
Carter says the company feels it is ready to compete in the U.S. He says they have mitigated part of their risk of coming into a new country by the fact that they have been rapidly growing outside the U.S. and the products from the Ames plant will feed the need for new product worldwide. A spokesman says the company is currently taking bids for the project, so its total cost is not yet known.