Premaitha acquires Taiwan NIPT provider in £7.2m deal
BIOTECH company Premaitha Health, the developer of the ground-breaking non-invasive prenatal test IONA, has acquired Taiwan-based Yourgene Bioscience which is development the treatment in Asia in a deal for about £7.2m.
Manchester-based Premaitha has announced the conditional acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Yourgene.
The consideration for the acquisition is the issue of 76,054,570 new ordinary shares in the company (the “Acquisition Shares”) at a price of 9p per share and a cash consideration of US$500,000, to be funded out of Yourgene’s existing cash reserves.
Yourgene is a significant Asian NIPT bioinformatics specialist based in Taiwan.
It has a commercial hub in Singapore and annual sales of circa £2m generated from across South East Asia and India, and is broadly break-even at those trading levels.
AIM-listed Premaitha’s IONA detects Downs Syndrome and other genetic conditions in unborn children by using a blood sample.
Premaitha was advised by an Addleshaw Goddard team led by partner Roger Hart including managing associate Jamie Partridge and associates Becky Dove and Josie Marsden.
Meanwhile, the gradual global spread of the IONA test – now installed in 13 laboratories across Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Asia – is reflected in Premaitha’s half-year results to September 30, also announced today (Wednesday, December 21).
Premaitha now supplies more than 50 UK hospitals through client laboratories and in-house clinical service and the NHS is to make non-invasive prenatal screening tests (NIPT) available for high risk cases from 2018.
Revenues increased by 130% to £1.5m (H1 2015/16: £0.6m) to a “diversified international client base”. Gross profit rose 41% to £0.6m (H1 H1 2015/16: £2.9m) representing 41% of revenues.
Its pre-tax loss on ordinary activities was £3.9m (H1 2015/16: £4.4m). Cash balance at the period end was £2.7m (H1 2015/16: £6.6m).
The company received a further £4m investment from Thermo Fisher in the form of a loan extension and warrants.
Premaitha chief executive Dr Stephen Little said: “We are very pleased with the progress being made with the IONA test in the regions where we are operational, and we have positioned ourselves to take advantage of the exceptional opportunities emerging in the Middle East and Asia.
“A combination of awareness of NIPT along with the reputation of the IONA test for reliability and accuracy, has resulted in the IONA test being adopted by both new laboratories and by customers who have already tried offering NIPT through alternative providers.
“Within Europe and the Middle East we continue to make excellent progress with a substantial pipeline of new customers that we believe will generate significant revenues in the medium term.”
