Japan's biggest pharmaceutical company, Takeda Chemicals, has taken over the small Co Wicklow-based Grelan Corporation, in a deal which IDA Ireland has described as a "huge coup".

Takeda's decision to acquire the Bray-based pharmaceutical company, which employs 40 people, follows years of wooing by the Irish industrial development agency.

Hopes are high that the global corporation will make Grelan its European manufacturing base, a move which could create a workforce of 100 people in the short term and create the potential for further expansion.

The takeover is Takeda's first investment in Europe and makes it the second Japanese pharmaceutical group to establish a European manufacturing base in the Republic. Last year, Yamanouchi, spent more than £55 million on a pharmaceutical plant in Mulhuddart, Co Dublin and has subsequently undertaken a further £16 million expansion programme.

Takeda is currently in negotiations with IDA Ireland in relation to its long-term plans for the Bray plant, which is expected to manufacture a series of pharmaceuticals to supply the European and US market.

Commenting on the takeover yesterday, Grelan general manager Mr Greg Timmons said it would "make the future more secure and brighter for workers".

Mr Timmons, who formerly worked with IDA Ireland's Tokyo office, will continue to run Takeda's Irish operations. The company is expected to employ up to 100 people when it gets into full production in mid-1999.

Grelan is still considered to be in an early start-up situation and will require further investment in its manufacturing facility before full-scale production can commence.

The project was announced in July 1996 as a greenfield manufacturing operation with the support of £10.5 million from IDA Ireland. The new plant was opened in March this year to manufacture finished pharmaceutical formulas.

Its primary manufacturing process was to be centred around a cholesterol-lowering drug to be supplied to the Japanese market and the company had recently secured accreditation to manufacture it.

Grelan, however, has since suffered a setback, due to a delay in the registration of this drug in Japan. It is not now expected to be formally registered for up to two years.

This unforeseen delay would have substantially added to the start-up costs of the relatively small Grelan company and is believed to have been a key factor behind the sale to Takeda. No financial details of the acquisition have been disclosed.

Takeda has been seeking a European base for many years and has considered a number of locations. The corporation was founded in 1781 and employs 10,000 people worldwide. It has an estimated annual turnover of $5 billion (£3.4 million).