Edwards Lifesciences to put $100m into Costa Rica expansion

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) is slated to add a $100 million expansion and 500 new jobs by the end of 2020 in an effort to expand its operations in Costa Rica, according to the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency.
The Irvine, Calif.-based company established cardiac device manufacturing facilities in Cartago in 2016, announcing a plan to add 370 employees there in December 2018. The latest investment is slated to add a new, 274,000-square-foot building to the complex, the Puerto Rican agency said.
Edwards expects its Costa Rica operations to grow to approximately 1,100 workers by the end of 2020, according to the agency. The facility now employs more than 600 people, plant GM Josué Campos said.
“The completion of this state-of-the-art plant in Costa Rica is an important milestone for Edwards as we expand our global heart valve network to serve patients around the world,” chairman & CEO Mike Mussallem said in prepared remarks. “Working in partnership with colleagues worldwide, our talented team in Costa Rica is building the capabilities to support our long-term growth aspirations and to meet the high-quality standards for Edwards’ sophisticated heart valve technologies. The success in scaling our current operations in the country gave us confidence to expand further. We are proud of our employees and the passion they have shown for our patient-centered work at Edwards, and we are also happy to be partnering with the local community through a number of special charitable projects.”
“We work to strengthen the country’s competitiveness, our human capital, and the conditions for companies that decide to grow in Costa Rica,” added Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada. “More and more Costa Ricans are seen as highly skilled people in the life sciences sector, one of the most important for the country today, and I am proud that Edwards sees that potential.”
“The announcement of the new plant of the company fills me with enthusiasm and shows that our stability, human talent, and legal security are key components for companies of high-quality standards to bet for us, generating opportunities for hundreds of families,” Dyalá Jiménez, minister of foreign trade, said in the release. “In the life sciences sector, there is a lot of potential for our value proposition, and we must continue to grow.”
Edwards is the second medtech major to announce plans to boost its footprint in the Caribbean, after Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) yesterday announced a $50 million investment in Puerto Rico.
Shares of EW are up 0.8% at $227.89 per share in early-morning trading today.
(Original Article: (https://www.massdevice.com/edwards-lifesciences-to-put-100m-into-costa-rica-expansion/)