Bayer HealthCare said Thursday it will close the Berlex facility in Richmond and make its Berkeley site one of three major R&D centers for the company worldwide.
The move comes as part of a consolidation following its $21.5 billion acquisition of Berlex's parent Schering A.G.
About 300 people of the combined estimated 1,900 employees will be laid off as a result of the consolidation. Those layoffs are expected to come disproportionately from the Berlex side.
A Berlex spokeswoman declined to provide a current headcount for the 53-acre Richmond campus, but the San Francisco Business Times in 2005 reported the headcount at 380.
Bayer expects to put the 10-building, 350,000-square-foot complex on the market, but will sit down with officials of the city of Richmond to discuss the site's future.
Berkeley will be home to the company's protein-based therapeutics and focus on hematology and immunology inflammation.
Berlin and Wuppertal, Germany will serve as the other research and development centers.
The company anticipates the consolidation of research activities to be largely complete by the end of the first half of 2007.
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