Essential News

• Company to become the first South African company to be established in Costa Rica in the services sector.

• New services center to provide Finance and Accountings services to all Latin America.

San José, Costa Rica October 13th 2015. The pharmaceutical company of South African origin, Aspen Pharma, chose Costa Rica to install a shared services center which will provide finance and accounting services to all the spanish speaking operations in Latin America.

Aspen Pharma is a company that has demonstrated a strong interest in improving the quality of life and promote health and well-being of people. Its team is committed to bringing therapeutic solutions that meet the needs of its customers, through products with international quality standards.

Initially the new center plans to hire 30 people in areas of General Accounting Accounts Payable, Company Reports, reconciliations, in order to increase your return in the future. The company chose Costa Rica, thanks to the openness, development and stability offered by the national Services Center Industry.

During 2014 an official delegation headed by the President, Luis Guillermo Solis, CINDE executives visited executives in Aspen in Mexico, the meeting served to showcase Costa Rica as a potential investment destination for the company's future plans.

During that same year Aspen opened in Costa Rica its business services center for the isthmus under the name Aspen Caricam. The investment in the new shared services center demonstrates the confidence at a country level to grow their business.

The President of the Republic, Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, said that "Costa Rica has the potential to continue to attract companies from around the world, because we have the clarity of finance, as a priority for our development, education, security and democratic institutions. From the National Employment Strategy and Production we promote actions and alliances with productive and educational sectors, to strengthen the momentum of economic growth that generates jobs and welfare”.

Carlos Abelleyra, CEO of Aspen for Spanish-speaking Latin America said "after the meeting with the President Solis, we concluded that Costa Rica is the ideal place to establish our Shared Services practice. We know the capacity of the Costa Rican workers, their training and experience and the support that the government gives to the services industry. We are very pleased and excited to start this new project for Aspen in Costa Rica ".

The Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora, said that "the arrival of the corporate service center of Aspen Pharma is an announcement I expected, because it is the leading African company in the pharmaceutical sector, highly innovative, with surprising sales growth and global activities, so it has come to be a target investor for our strategy. The employment and production linkages in the services sector that this company will generate, I hope, are the basis for further development and deepening of Aspen Pharma in our country".

For his part, the Director of LATAM Shared Services of Aspen, Franco Muñoz, said that "Costa Rica was the chosen destination for having a developed and collaborative industry in Shared Services, with human capital whose affinity with other cultures in Latin America will allow the servicing of value added services to our operations at a competitive cost and allows us to benefit more people every day by creating jobs. We are happy and proud to provide our services to our fellow countries in Latin America".

The Managing Director of CINDE, Jorge Sequeira, said "Having a company of South African origin as Aspen, in the services cluster, confirms the high level of competitiveness that the national human talent brings to this type of companies. Aspen will provide services from Costa Rica in the area of finance and accounting for its other locations in the world. Thanks to the confidence of this and 120 other companies that today already operate in the services sector, the country has managed to generate 50,000 quality jobs for the Costa Rican".

In Central America and the Caribbean, Aspen owns leading products as Cofal, Phillips Milk of Magnesia; as well as other therapeutic lines in Women's Health, Cardiology, Critical Care and Child Nutrition.

"To Aspen, it is a vote of confidence in Costa Rica to take the decision to install our Shared Services Centre for Latin America, and reiterate our intention to continue investing in the health of our patients and the generation of jobs," said Ana Claudia Alvarez , CEO of Aspen Caricam.

About Aspen Pharma

Pharmaceutical company of South African origin present in more than 150 countries. Since 1850, they have shown a strong interest in improving the quality of life and promote health and well being of people around the world.

They work to provide therapeutic solutions that meet the wide range of needs of their patients, business partners and customers through a robust portfolio of effective products that meet the highest international quality standards.