Shire relocates jobs to Massachusetts

Shire PLC says its plans to make Lexington, Massachusetts, its U.S. operational headquarters and will move more than 500 jobs there from its Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania, site.

The drugmaker is headquartered on the British island of Jersey. It currently has about 5,000 employees globally, including 1,300 in Lexington and about 970 in Chesterbrook.

Shire said Wednesday that the transition is part of a larger effort to increase efficiency and streamline its business globally through two principal locations - Massachusetts and Switzerland - with support from a number of regional and country-based offices around the world.

The company said condensing its operations into two principle locations will save $25 million annually beginning in 2016. It also said the moves will strengthen collaboration and research among its employees. The moves will begin in the first quarter of 2015 and end about a year later.

Shire plans to move the U.S. employees in several phases, beginning in the first quarter of 2015 and expects to complete it by the first quarter of 2016.

It said employees who are directly impacted but do not relocate will be offered severance, outplacement service and other employee assistance.

It also said that James Bowling, its interim chief financial officer, will leave the company in February and Jeff Poulton, its head of investor relations, will assume the role of interim CFO in January.

Shares of Shire traded in the U.S. slipped $1.22 to $208.78 in afternoon trading, in line with broader market activity.