Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Novartis on the transfer of real estate, infrastructure-related assets and services pertaining to the Life Science Park Rhine Valley in Stein (Swiss Canton Aargau). The management and further development of the life science park started by Novartis, will be taken over by the industrial park operator Getec. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 and 25 employees will move from Novartis to Getec. Novartis established the Life Science Park 2021 to attract more life science companies. Currently, almost 2,000 employees work in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the Life Science Park Rhine Valley, including in addition to Novartis, for example, companies such as Lonza and Celonic. Novartis will remain the main tenant at the site and Getec shall further pursue the development of the life science park. This will allow Novartis to concentrate on its core business. Freshfields advises Novartis regularly, for example on the sale of the vaccine manufacturing plant in Marburg to BioNTech as well as on the carve out regarding the generic drug manufacturer Sandoz. The Freshfields team for Novartis was led by Partner Barbara Keil (Munich) and Principal Associate Jacob Fontaine (Hamburg, both Corporate/M&A). The team further comprised: Corporate/M&A: Principal Associate Elisabeth Wulf (London), Principal Associate Marius Li-Yang Stein (Frankfurt), Associate Maria Tumpel (Vienna), Associate Jan Postweiler (Munich), Senior Transaction Lawyers Sebastian Fistric (Frankfurt), Edwige Nathan (Berlin), Lawyer Romaric Cecillon (Frankfurt), Transaction Lawyer Francesca von Canstein (Munich) Regulatory: Partner Michael Ramb (Düsseldorf), Counsel Sascha Arnold (Hamburg), Principal Associate Nicolas Sölter (Hamburg) Swiss law aspects were handled by Homburger with a team around Daniel Häusermann. The transaction was led in-house at Novartis by Sonya Rogerson, Head of Transformation (Transactions) & REFS.