Actavis receives 2006 Grant Thornton Award for Enterprise and Foreign Direct Investment

Dr Austin Gatt, Minister for Investment, Industry and Foreign Direct Investment, presented the 2006 Grant Thornton Award for Enterprise and Foreign Direct Investment earlier this month to Actavis Ltd at the Corinthia Hotel in Attard.

This was the sixth edition of the award. This year's edition is dedicated to the theme: 'Promoting the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Malta.'

Grant Thornton managing partner Martin Bonello-Cole, in his welcome address, emphasised the importance of investment promotion for Malta's economic development. Although the promotion of direct investment, especially foreign direct investment, was everybody's duty, he said the principal responsibility for this task lay with Malta Enterprise.

It was important, therefore, that this organisation focused on the promotion of investment. Its structure and the distribution of its internal resources, he emphasised, should reflect the priority of investment promotion.

Mr Bonello-Cole also insisted on the need to adopt best international practice in this field. Investment promotion today is not only a question of advertising or just marketing, he said. If investment promotion was to be effective in the face of fierce international competition it must not be of a lesser quality than that of international best practice.

Grant Thornton's concern with investment promotion was reflected in the involvement of Dr Mario Vella, Grant Thornton's director of foreign direct investment services, in the development of the world's first postgraduate course for investment promotion executives. Dr Vella and an international team of specialists have developed the first internationally recognised postgraduate qualification for executives of national development agencies.

The course, a Master of Science in Investment Promotion, will be launched early in 2007 by Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland, in co-operation with the Swiss outward investment promotion agency SOFI.

Dr Vella outlined Grant Thornton's experience with the promotion of foreign pharmaceutical investment in Malta. Grant Thornton's clients include some of the most important new investors in this field in Malta.

He then reviewed the problems faced to set up a pharmaceutical project in Malta and reflected on what needed to be done not to lose Malta's international competitiveness in the field.

Actavis is one of the world's leading players in the development, manufacture and sale of high-quality generic pharmaceuticals. The Actavis Group's recent acquisitions have positioned it among the world's five largest companies in the industry. Founded in 1956 and headquartered in Iceland, the group has 10,000 employees operating in over 30 countries worldwide.

The Malta facility, formerly Pharmamed Limited of Bulebel, was acquired by the Actavis Group in 2001. Pharmamed itself was set up in 1976 and produced generic pharmaceuticals for non-profit organisations such as the IDA - the Denmark-based International Dispensary Association IDA, its owner - UNICEF and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Actavis Malta employs a highly qualified and experienced complement of 400. It is a key contributor to the group, selling a number of branded generics as well as other generic pharmaceuticals. The group attributes its rapid growth in Malta to the favourable patent environment, the strong technical infrastructure on the island and considerable investment from the parent company.

Grant Thornton International is one of the world's leading organisations of independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms providing assurance, tax and specialist advice to independent businesses and their owners. Firms operate through 519 offices in 112 countries.

All Grant Thornton International member firms share a commitment to provide the same high quality service to their clients wherever they choose to do business. Grant Thornton firms draw on international skills and local expertise and experience to help ensure clients receive outstanding service, wherever they are.

Grant Thornton in Malta is one of the country's leading accounting and consulting firms. It is the leading provider of one-stop-shop services to foreign direct investors and a pro-active promoter of foreign direct investment in Malta. It has distinguished itself for its role and performance in the promotion of new foreign investment in the pharmaceutical sector in Malta.

The Grant Thornton Award for Enterprise & Foreign Direct Investment was set up in 2001 by Grant Thornton in Malta. The award aims to honour companies, organisations and individuals who have distinguished themselves in the fields of entrepreneurship, foreign direct investment as well as the promotion of investment and trade.

Past recipients of the award include foreign owned companies in Malta, such as Malta Moulds of Hal Far, Hetronic of Mosta Technopark (2003) and Crimsonwing of Marsa; Maltese-foreign joint ventures: Medavia, The Mediterranean Aviation Company of Safi; Maltese entrepreneurs: Alfred Pisani, chairman of the Corinthia Group of Companies (2005) and Peter Muscat Scerri of the Rimus Group of Companies (2002); ambassadors: US Ambassador Kathryn Linda Profitt (2001), Tunisian Ambassador Abdessalam Hetira (2002) and Libyan Ambassador Dr Saad El Shelmani (2005); educational institutions such as the MCAST's Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (formerly the Fellenberg Training Centre for Industrial Electronics) in 2004; and James Bonello of HSBC in 2003 for his personal track record in support of industry.