AstraZeneca has today announced the sale of its Alderley Park site to secure it future as a bioscience hub.

Cheshire East council has part-funded the deal to buy the site with Manchester Science Parks and Bruntwood, with Bruntwood as the majority funder.

MP George Osborne has said it spells a 'brighter future' for the site.

The deal has been described as a ‘truly unique’ opportunity to create a globally renowned centre of scientific excellence.

MSP is majority owned by Manchester property developer Bruntwood, with other stakeholders being Manchester and Salford councils and Manchester’s two universities.

The value of the deal was undisclosed but it is rumoured Bruntwood beat off competition from Palmer Capital, Huntsmere and Telereal Trillium, with bids having ranged from £30m-50m.

A taskforce has been working with Cheshire East council to find a new use for the 400 acre site after AstraZeneca announced last March it would vacate the building and shift hundreds of jobs to Cambridge.

It is understood Tatton MP and Chancellor George Osborne personally intervened at the time to keep some jobs at the base and AstraZeneca will continue to house 700 staff there under the deal.

The move was revealed to the stock market today.

Chris Oglesby, chief executive of Bruntwood, said: “This is a truly unique opportunity to take on one of the best investment sites in the world, complete with state of the art facilities and equipment for bioscience companies.

“We are delighted to have been entrusted with securing the future of Alderley Park as a life science facility of world class scale and quality.

“We are committed to developing a sector-led business cluster of international importance on the site, making it a flagship location of its kind for the North of England and the UK.”

Mr Osborne added: “I’m delighted that the future of Alderley Park has been secured through today’s deal with Manchester Science Parks. As local MP and Chancellor I am fighting hard for the future of this site.

“So I am very pleased that Alderley Park, with its rich heritage of innovation, will continue to operate at the centre of the UK’s life sciences industry.

“Today’s deal ensures that new businesses are able to build on the site’s history to deliver exciting new opportunities and more jobs for the north west which in turn means economic security and a brighter future for all those involved

.“Life sciences are one if the UK’s leading sectors and by backing places like Alderley Park, we are backing the industries of the future.”

MSP chief executive Rowena Burns added: “Our overall strategy and vision is bringing together the strength of Alderley Park as a bioscience research and development facility of unique scale and quality with the existing knowledge Manchester Science Park clusters and links to the knowledge business to create an internationally competitive commercial science offer and deliver future economic growth.”

It comes as Bruntwood announced plans to more than triple the size of the existing MSP, near Oxford Road. The expansion will see it grow in size from 220,000 sq ft to 1.1m sq ft over the next decade.