Miza founder back at helm of UK plant

The former owner of the Miza plant in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, which closed last year due to lack of investment with the loss of 290 jobs, has re-emerged in the UK. He is now the part-owner of a former Miza pharmaceutical factory there that closed around the same time as the Roscrea operation.

His re-emergence has caused outrage among some of the former Miza workers in Roscrea, who were paid just statutory redundancy when they lost their jobs. "A lot of people are very, very sore about this," said a former employee.

The former Antigen plant in Roscrea was bought out of examinership by Canadian company Miza Pharmaceuticals Inc, in 2001, with promises from its founder Dr Jack Kachkar that Miza would pay off creditors owed €21 million and make significant investment in the Roscrea plant.

The plant closed just a year later after Dr Kachkar had sold a key asset and failed to make all of the promised payments to creditors. The key asset was the plant's right to sell its pharmaceutical products in the open market and part of the monies received for the licences was used to pay the former Antigen owner, Mr George Fasenfeld. Dr Kachkar failed to raise venture capital in the US, which he had intended for his Irish and UK operations. He paid only €5 million of the €20 million owed to creditors.

The unhappy experience of the Roscrea plant under Miza was repeated in Runcorn, England, where Miza bought a pharmaceuticals plant at around the time it was buying Antigen. The plant was bought from a Canadian company, CCL Industries, and was bought in return for shares in Miza Pharmaceuticals and loan notes. It is not known if there was any cash involved.

The Irish and UK plants were the main elements in the Miza Pharmaceuticals operation.

The UK plant went into administration in September 2002 and the Roscrea plant went into examinership soon afterwards. It was eventually placed in liquidation under Mr Tom Grace. The UK plant was subsequently bought by a UK company, Inyx Pharma, in what was described as a management buyout that also involved outside shareholders.

Inyx Pharma was bought earlier this year by a US company called Doblique, which was owned by Ms Vicktoria Benkovitch, the wife of Dr Kachkar. Doblique subsequently changed its name to Inyx Inc. It has its headquarters in Florida, USA.

An executive at the Runcorn plant, Mr David Bytheway, told The Irish Times that the plant was producing similar products to what it had produced under Miza. Mr Bytheway said he had formerly worked for Miza at the Runcorn plant.

According to its website, Dr Kachkar is the chairman and secretary of Inyx, which now has a number of shareholders. A Standard & Poor's note said Inyx Inc bought Inyx Pharma in return for shares in Inyx Inc. It also said that Inyx Pharma bought the former Miza plant in Runcorn for $6.4 million and $1.1 million in acquisition costs.

Dr Kachkar, according to the Inyx website, is a medical doctor who earned his degree in Budapest, Hungary. A call to his office in Florida earlier this week was not returned.

The Roscrea plant is now under new ownership. US company Taro currently employs 35 people there and hopes to have 75 employees by December 2003.