Richter's New Headquarters in Kőbánya Inaugurated

The new headquarters of Richter Plc. in Kőbánya, the 10th district of the Hungarian capital was inaugurated on Thursday. The 17,400-square-meter building, which provides space for 450 employees, was completed with an investment of HUF 20 billion, financed by the pharmaceutical company from its own resources.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Energy Minister Csaba Lantos stressed that the company represented not only innovation but also the government's desire to 'invest'. Without a foreign presence, it is impossible to remain competitive in the world in the long term, he underlined.

Gábor Orbán, the company's CEO, said among other things that Richter provides one third of the Hungarian corporate R&D expenditure, which enriches the company's own intellectual capital, and that the intellectual assets created in Hungary can be converted into business results abroad.

In his speech, Csaba Lantos recalled the history of Richter and pointed out that the company continues its tradition of innovation, being one of the few pharmaceutical companies to carry out original research.

In certain industries, Hungary is too small, and if we want to remain competitive, we need to invest not only in research and development, but also in outsourcing, he said.

He said it was a particularly significant achievement that the pharmaceutical company could increase its export turnover, which would give stability to the company and thus to the national economy.

The energy minister also pointed out that he had been a member of the company's board of directors for more than ten years and had been involved in the decision to build the new headquarters.

Richter CEO Gábor Orbán stressed that the new headquarters building, designed by the internationally renowned architect Gábor Zoboki, expresses Richter's national and international standing.

The new headquarters is a meeting point of Hungarian knowledge and economy, and the building is a worthy symbol of a global company headquartered in Hungary and present in around 100 countries, said the CEO.

Among other things, Szilveszter E. Vizi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, explained that Richter is a Hungarian multinational company with subsidiaries in 50 countries, 93% of its products are sold abroad, more than half of its employees work abroad, and its product range includes Hungarian intellectual capital, which is also of material value to Hungary.

Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian physicist, Ferenc Krausz, said at the ceremony that Richter, a symbol of Hungarian innovation, had been appropriately packaged.

Róbert D. Kovács, Mayor of the 10th district, was of the view that Richter's new headquarters is the face of Kőbánya in the 21st century. The pharmaceutical company, which has been operating in Kőbánya for 120 years, represents quality and innovation in a competitive business environment and is developing like the district, preserving the values of the past and incorporating them into the present and the future.