Avacta buys Curidium
AVACTA Group, the York-based science company which is helping biopharmaceutical developers and manufacturers get their products to market quicker, has acquired a business.
The Leeds University spin-out, based at York Science Park, has bought Curidium, a London-based operation which is working to identify medicines that can help to treat patients more effectively.
Curidium believes its PsychINDx blood diagnostic test could have the potential to improve the treatment of patients with schizophrenia.
Avacta, which was established in 2004, was founded by colleagues Professor Alastair Smith, one of the leading biophysicists in the UK, and Simon Webster and Kurt Baldwin, two experienced molecular physicists and technology developers.
The diagnostics specialist was listed on AIM in August 2006 via a reverse takeover of Readybuy which was renamed Avacta Group. The group comprises Avacta Analytical, its contract research services division, and Avacta, an innovative technology developer.
The boards of Avacta and Curidium believe the enlarged group will benefit from the combination of Avacta’s expertise in developing new technology products and services, and its ability to commercialise diagnostics intellectual property, with Curidium’s expertise in the biology of disease and personalised medicine, underpinned by its existing cash resources.
The all share offer will see shareholders receive 14.5 new Avacta shares for every one held.
Based upon yesterday’s closing price of 2.25p per Avacta share, the offer values each Curidium share at 32.6p and Curidium’s existing share capital at around £6.18m.
The acquisition is expected to be completed in March.
The offer is recommended by Curidium’s directors, along with a number of shareholders, meaning that Avacta has already received undertakings to vote in favour of it from about 68.3% of Curidium’s shareholders.
After the deal has gone through, about 25% of the enlarged issued ordinary share capital of Avacta will be held by former Curidium shareholders and about 75% will be held by existing Avacta shareholders.
Dr Alastair Smith, chief executive of Avacta, said: “The merger of Curidium and Avacta will strengthen the enlarged group’s ability to deliver a range of commercially valuable and clinically effective diagnostic products.
“The point-of-care testing and personalised medicine markets offer high value and high growth opportunities and the combined strengths of Avacta and Curidium will put us in a strong position to capitalise on these opportunities.”
Dr Barry Porter, chairman of Curidium, said: “The combination of Avacta and Curidium creates an entity that will have significant potential in the diagnostics field. Curidium’s expertise in the underlying mechanisms of human diseases combined with Avacta’s existing business activities presents a number of opportunities to accelerate the commercialisation of Curidium’s products.”
Avacta’s primary focus is to equip biopharmaceutical developers and manufacturers with tools to get their products to market more quickly, at reduced cost, and to optimise the critical to performance properties of these new drugs.
Its products and services make it possible for drug developers to analyse their compounds in much greater detail at an earlier stage in the drug development pipeline than is now possible, providing timely identification of problems that can cause costly late stage failures or poor product performance.
