Life sciences firm updates on £21m acquisition

Life science business, Integumen which is to be renamed Deepverge, is continuing with plans announced in August to acquire Modern Water for £21.25m

Under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, the York-based business was required to publish further information about the offer no later than today (25 September), however it has now received an extension, with the offer document expected to be published by 9 October.

The acquisition of Modern Water by Integumen, follows a partnership between the two businesses since March to develop new wastewater test kits.

Speaking yesterday the Yorkshire firm stated it was making progress on its Covid-19 wastewater detection system, Microtox PD, in collaboration with Modern Water, Avacta Group and Aptamer Group, with the product now ready for “live virus testing”.

Commenting on the original offer for Modern Water, Ross Andrews, chairman of Integumen, said: “There has been significant collaboration between Integumen and Modern Water over the last 6 months which has provided the Integumen Board with invaluable insight into the Modern Water business. The Integumen Board believes that a merger of the two businesses would be a natural next step and that there are exciting synergies and opportunities across the combined businesses in the areas of science, IT, distribution channels, global reach for supply chain, sales, marketing and distribution channels.”