An aerial photograph of Grifol’s Clayton site. The Spanish company is building two more plants on the site and now has bought an adjacent 466 acres.
An aerial photograph of Grifol’s Clayton site. The Spanish company is building two more plants on the site and now has bought an adjacent 466 acres. Courtesy of Grifols
An aerial photograph of Grifol’s Clayton site. The Spanish company is building two more plants on the site and now has bought an adjacent 466 acres. Courtesy of Grifols

Business

Grifols pays $9M for 466 acres in Clayton

By Max Diamond

mdiamond@newsobserver

January 03, 2018 06:44 PM

Grifols, the global health care company that is Johnston County’s largest employer, has paid $9 million for 466 acres in Clayton.

The land, at the intersection of N.C. 42 and U.S. 70 Business, is adjacent to its current facilities in Clayton. It was purchased from Norfolk Southern. CBRE/Raleigh represented the seller in the transaction.

Grifols, which is based in Spain, develops drug therapies from proteins derived from blood plasma. Employees at its Clayton site extract the proteins through a process called fractionation. Its products can be used to treat hemophilia, genetic emphysema and neurological diseases.

The company has no immediate plans for the site, said Sergi Roura Adell, president of Grifols’ North American facilities. He called it a long-term investment and said it was unrelated to expansion plans announced in 2016.

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Those plans – a $210 million investment in two new facilities at its existing Clayton location – are scheduled for completion in 2021 and 2022.

The company entered North Carolina in 2011 when it acquired Talecris Biotherapeutics for $4 billion. It now has roughly 10,000 U.S. workers, the majority in North Carolina.