Roche sees new Shanghai center one of its hubs

SHANGHAI - Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Group said that it will make Shanghai its third strategic operations center in the world, after Basel, Switzerland, and San Francisco in the United States.

The company announced completion of the Roche Shanghai expansion (RoSE) project at Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in the city's Pudong New Area on Thursday, another major step since its Asia-Pacific headquarters moved to the city in 2009.

With a total investment of 67 million Swiss francs ($75 million), the expansion project, which began in November 2008, comprises two new office buildings, a quality-control center and warehouses.