Sandoz to leave Canton Zug

The generic drug manufacturer Sandoz is letting its lease in Rotkreuz expire. This will bring a relatively short stint in the Canton of Zug to an end.
 

Basle is about 100 kilometres from the Suurstoffi site in Rotkreuz, in the canton of Zug, and the journey takes at least an hour and a half by car, and even longer by train. Starting in 2028, around 100 Sandoz employees in Rotkreuz will have to commute this additional distance. The reason: Sandoz is consolidating its two locations in Basle. The employees were informed of this on Monday.

Basle is currently home to the Global Headquarters of the generic drug manufacturer Sandoz, which was spun off from Novartis in 2023. The Swiss subsidiary of Sandoz is located in Rotkreuz, where around 135 people are employed. But only about 90 of them work in the office; the rest are field staff, who normally travel throughout Switzerland. Sandoz employs approximately 420 people nationwide.

On request, a Sandoz spokesperson confirmed that: "As of January 2028, Sandoz will be located in a new office in Basle, at the St. Alban-Anlage." As the insurance group Helvetia Baloise announced separately on Monday, Sandoz will occupy the eastern of the two towers on the Helvetia Campus at St. Alban-Graben. With Sandoz, they have found "a long-term tenant with close ties to Basle." Helvetia's staff who are currently in the east tower will move to the current Baloise Park at Aeschengraben by spring 2027 at the latest.

This move will relocate both Sandoz's global headquarters, currently at the Elsässertor near Basle's main railway station, and its Swiss headquarters in Suurstoffi, Rotkreuz, to a new location. By consolidating operations at a shared workspace, the spokesperson stated that they aim to "promote closer collaboration, faster decision-making processes and stronger networking among the teams." Sandoz has signed a long-term lease with renewal options.

The Sandoz headquarters in Rotkreuz      (Image: supplied)
 

The lease agreements will expire
The reason behind the decision is that the lease in Rotkreuz expires at the end of 2027, as can be read in the annual report of the respective real estate company, Zug Estates. The lease for the global headquarters in Basle is also up for renewal. Against this backdrop, various options were examined, according to the Sandoz spokesperson. He stated that the premises in Rotkreuz "no longer meet Sandoz's growth needs."

This is not a re-organisation, and the structures will remain as they are. "The move is not part of a broader organisational transformation or restructuring programme," emphasised the spokesperson. The move underscores Sandoz's long-term commitment to Basle as the global headquarters of the independent company.

As the commute will be significantly longer for most of the Sandoz employees in Zug, it can be assumed that Sandoz has made, or will make, them corresponding offers. The spokesperson stated that the employees will be "supported." He declined to provide further details.

With Sandoz's departure from Zug, the circle is complete, as the move to Zug unfolded in a similar fashion to the current departure. In 2013, when Sandoz was still part of Novartis, the Basle-based pharmaceutical giant decided to relocate its Swiss operations from Bern to Rotkreuz. Novartis itself still maintains an office in the Suurstoffi district, but the story of Sandoz in the canton of Zug will, however, come to an end next year.