Talecris officials and Gov. Bev Perdue on Friday will announce a major expansion at the company's Clayton plant, which makes plasma-derived pharmaceuticals.

The expansion at the facility is expected to create hundreds of new jobs eventually and will make Talecris eligible for tax breaks from the state and county governments.

The Clayton Area Chamber of Commerce sent an e-mail blast to members on Tuesday urging them to attend an event at The Clayton Center at 9:30 a.m. Friday morning. The event, featuring the governor, involved "economic development" news, the chamber said.

"The purpose of [Perdue's] visit is to make a major announcement regarding economic development," the chamber said.

Town officials confirmed that the news is about an expansion at the Talecris plant on U.S. 70 Business east of Clayton's town limits but inside its extraterritorial jurisdiction.

The announcement comes at a time when the county's unemployment rate stands at 9.5 percent.

Talecris currently employs about 1,400 people in Clayton. It is Johnston County's largest employer and second-largest taxpayer. The Clayton plant is the town's largest water customer.

Talecris, which last month made an initial public stock offering of $950 million and a debt offering of $600 million, hinted at an expansion at the Clayton plant in a filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission on Oct. 1.

"Our facilities at Clayton have benefited from roughly $580 million of capital investment since 1995. ... Our capital expenditures over the next five years will be substantially higher than in the past as a result of planned upgrades to our facility," the filing said.

In a quarterly report filed Monday with the SEC, Talecris said it was in a position to make capital expenditures of up to $225 million in each of 2010 and 2011.

Talecris foresees substantial opportunity for growth in the coming years.

"We believe worldwide unit volume demand for plasma-derived products will grow over the long term at a compound annual rate of approximately 6 percent to 8 percent," the company said in its quarterly report.

Talecris' plasma-derived treatments target conditions such as hemophilia and pediatric HIV infections. The company's top products are Gamunex, which treats neurological and immune deficiencies, and Prolastin, a medication for a genetic disorder that can ravage the lungs and other parts of the body.

"Talecris' product offering is broadly diversified, where in certain cases little or no competition exists, offering investors consistent growth and somewhat insulating Talecris from a major negative event," Wells Fargo concluded in a recent analysis.

In the first nine months of this year, Talecris' net revenue increased by 17.5 percent, to $1.14 billion from $972.9 million for the first nine months of 2008, the company's quarterly report said.

Bayer opened the Clayton facility in 1974. Talecris was formed when Bayer's blood-plasma division was purchased by two investment firms in 2005.

Talecris last year signed a merger agreement with Australia-based CSL, but the deal was scuppered after the Federal Trade Commission raised antitrust concerns and said it would attempt to block the deal.

Talecris, CSL and a third company, Baxter International of Illinois, control 83 percent of the U.S. market for blood-based drugs, the Triangle Business Journal reports.

CSL paid Talecris a $75 million break-up fee after the merger deal was scrapped.

For more details about the planned expansion, see the Nov. 18 edition of The Clayton News-Star.

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