MELBOURNE, March 11, 2026, 09:36 AEDT 1
- CSL said the Kankakee, Illinois, expansion will cost $1.5 billion, add at least 300 pharmaceutical jobs and be operational by 2031. 2
- The project sharpens CSL’s focus on its plasma business after an 81% first-half profit drop and a leadership reset last month. 3
- A March 11 ASX filing showed CSL bought back 62,472 shares on March 10 for about A$9.1 million. 4
CSL Limited said it had broken ground on a $1.5 billion expansion of its Kankakee, Illinois, manufacturing site, deepening a bet on the business management needs to lift growth. The buildout is aimed at boosting output of plasma-derived therapies — medicines made from proteins in human blood plasma — and is due to be operational by 2031, with at least 300 new pharmaceutical roles. 2
The timing matters. Last month, CSL posted an 81% drop in first-half net profit, booked heavy impairments and put Gordon Naylor in the top job on an interim basis after Paul McKenzie retired, leaving investors focused on whether the core Behring plasma unit can carry the recovery. 3
The move also lands as large drugmakers race to deepen U.S. manufacturing while Washington weighs a 100% tariff on imported branded and patented medicines. CSL had already flagged a $1.5 billion U.S. manufacturing push in November, and the Illinois rollout now puts a site, jobs target and 2031 start date around that plan. 5
CSL said the Kankakee expansion will use its Horizon 2 process, a yield-enhancing technology designed to get more immunoglobulin, an antibody medicine made from plasma, from the same base supply. Chief Operating Officer Mary Oates said the project marked “an important step forward” in lifting efficiency and protein yield from each gram of plasma collected. 2
“Behind every plasma-derived therapy is a person trying to live a more stable life,” Naylor said, adding that the expansion would strengthen a key supply hub as demand rises in the United States and abroad. 2
That fits the line Naylor took after February’s results. He told analysts then that the biggest opportunity lay in CSL’s blood-plasma franchise, and the half-year report said Behring was still expected to drive second-half growth. 3
The investment also reinforces CSL’s position in plasma-derived therapies and albumin, a protein treatment used to restore blood volume, where it competes with Japan’s Takeda and Spain’s Grifols. All three have at least one U.S. manufacturing site for human albumin sold in China. 6
CSL shares closed at A$144.56 on Tuesday, up 1.65% on the day but still near the 52-week low touched on March 9. 7
A March 11 ASX filing showed CSL bought back 62,472 shares on March 10 for A$9.06 million under its on-market buyback, where a company repurchases stock on the exchange. The filing showed 4.11 million shares had already been bought back before Tuesday’s purchase. 4
CSL’s interim dividend of $1.30 a share went ex-dividend on March 10 and is due to be paid on April 9. But the Illinois project is a long-cycle fix: CSL’s February guidance still points to about 2%-3% revenue growth and 4%-7% growth in net profit after tax and amortisation, its preferred measure of underlying earnings, this year excluding one-off costs. 8
What could still go wrong is the near-term mix. CSL said Seqirus should contribute less in the second half because of flu seasonality, while Vifor remains under pressure from generic competition. The Illinois buildout helps the long game. It does not take the heat off fiscal 2026. 9
