Talecris Biotherapeutics' $270 million expansion in Clayton is officially topped off.

On Wednesday, about 150 Talecris employees, contractors, and state and local officials used permanent markers to sign a steel beam that now sits atop the frame that will become the company's new fractionation facility. The "topping off" ceremony is a construction industry tradition considered good luck for a new building.

So far, one of the largest capital projects in Johnston County's history is "on time and under budget," said Talecris chief financial officer John Hanson.

The facility is expected to open in 2015 and eventually employ 259 people. Talecris stands to receive tax breaks and other incentives worth as much as $20 million if it meets hiring goals.

Grifols SA's proposed purchase of Talecris must still receive approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The Spanish firm's executives said today they are confident the deal will be approved, largely because it is smaller than Australia's CSL Ltd.

CSL tried to buy Talecris in 2008 for $3.1 billion, but the deal ran into problems with antitrust regulators.

In a research note about the Grifols-Talecris deal, Wells Fargo Senior Analyst Aaron Reames notes that the combined companies would control 31 percent of the blood plasma market in the U.S.

That's less than the 43 percent market share a CSL-Talecris merger would have captured, and less than the 36 percent market share competitor Baxter already has.

As for why Talecris is being swallowed up just nine months after going public, the answer likely has to do with the company's largest shareholders.