Australia's Peptech is acquiring rival antibody therapeutics player EvoGenics in a cash/shares deal worth $156 million. The deal boosts the merged company to one of the biggest developers in Australia and a more influential player on the world stage. Company insiders said that the deal offered synergies that were too good to ignore. Analyst Dr. Darren Grubb gave the deal a thumb's up, saying that it gives the combined company a good platform "to commercially hone antibodies."
"We've been working very hard to build value in the company both developing antibody products (and) pipelines...and it's really clear to us that to develop the full value in our products we really need to be working within a better funded environment than we currently are," said Evogenix chief Dr. Merilyn Sleigh, who retains an advisory role in the merged company.
- see this announcement on the deal
- read the report from the Sydney Morning Herald