Delmar Chemicals, a LaSalle, Quebec-headquartered manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), pharmaceutical intermediates, and other organic fine chemicals, plans to invest $45.8 million to increase production capacity of its LaSalle API plant to make it a Center of Excellence of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. The investment will create 25 jobs and consolidate 29.

The project involves improving the plant’s productivity by expanding the building to make room for indoor storage of production materials. The project also involves the purchase of specialized equipment, in particular for a finishing room to complete the production cycle of APIs in-house.

To support this project, the Government of Quebec is granting a repayable contribution of $10 million to the company through its ESSOR program, which is intended to support investment projects in Quebec. Moreover, the Government of Canada is providing a repayable contribution of $1.5 million through Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, a Canadian federal agency that promotes the long-term economic development of the regions of Quebec.

Delmar was acquired in 2011 by Holding F.I.S. (HFIS), a group based in Italy that owns four production units. Between 2011 and 2015, HFIS invested $50 million to support growth for Delmar Chemicals, which now employs 96 people in its LaSalle plant.