Sharp Corp. bought out: Local plant: Pill packaging company has 300 workers in Upper Macungie.

Jul 17, 2008 (The Morning Call - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- UDRGF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A pharmaceutical packaging company in Upper Macungie Township is falling under foreign ownership.

United Drug of Ireland is paying $99 million for Sharp Corp., which employs about 300 people in Upper Macungie and another 300 in Conshohocken, Montgomery County.

The deal will not result in layoffs, said Sharp's chief executive officer, George Burke. "All the employees will remain intact -- management and all the workers."

In 2003, when then Conshohocken-based Sharp announced it would set up shop in the Lehigh Valley, the news was hailed as a sign of the region's growing prescription drug and pharmaceutical services industry -- which already included companies such as Alcan, Sartorius BBI Systems and OraSure Technologies.

The acquisition of Sharp only five years later is part of a larger trend prompted by the falling value of the dollar, which has given foreign entities increased buying power in the United States. Just this week, iconic American beermaker Anheuser-Busch was bought by InBev of Belgium.

Sharp makes bottles, pouches and "blister packs" in which pills are packaged individually between plastic and foil. It's a business that blossomed after the 1982 Tylenol tampering case, when seven consumers in the Chicago area died after consuming arsenic-tainted pills.

Sharp -- being sold by Superior Group Inc., a privately held company in West Conshohocken -- has annual revenues of about $100 million. United Drug, which takes in about $2.5 billion a year, is a much bigger player in the same industry in Europe.

"It's a great fit for them. They wanted to launch a platform in the U.S.," Burke said of United Drug. "They...will be looking for acquisitions in the U.S. to complement Sharp."

Sharp moved its headquarters to the old Keebler plant in Upper Macungie in 2004, after five decades in Conshohocken.

Burke, a Lehigh Valley native, was behind the move. His family helped found Burron Medical, which was acquired by B. Braun in 1979, and he served as a B. Braun division president before leaving to take the top job at Sharp.

"I wanted to bring this business up to the Lehigh Valley," Burke told The Morning Call in an interview in 2004. "The people have a great work ethic here, and Interstates 78 and 476 are so close, you can get anywhere from here."

sam.kennedy@mcall.com

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