CHALFONT ST. GILES, U.K.-GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co., and Whatman plc announced recently they have reached an agreement for the acquisition of Whatman by GE Healthcare.
Terms of the deal value Whatman at approximately $713 million.
Whatman is a global supplier of filtration products and technologies. The company has a broad product offering of filters and membranes for laboratory, research, life sciences and medical technology applications.
GE Healthcare's Life Sciences business is a provider of technologies for cellular and protein science research, and tools used in the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals such as vaccines, cell therapies and antibodies.
According to a statement, the strategic fit between the two businesses will "offer substantial customer benefits and create significant synergies through complementary product and service offerings."
Joe Hogan, president and CEO, GE Healthcare, says in a statement Whatman has a track record of innovation, a strong reputation and brand with the research community, and highly talented employees.
"Whatman's product offerings are highly complementary with our Life Sciences business; we believe that combining the skills and knowledge of the two businesses will create significant added value for our customers," says Hogan. "Life sciences is a key area of growth for GE Healthcare and expanding our skill base and product offerings in this area supports our vision of helping our customers to diagnose and treat disease earlier."
Kieran Murphy, chief Executive Officer of Whatman, adds in a statement the company will benefit from the business process expertise within GE Healthcare.
"Whatman's product opportunities within the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and forensics markets will have a greater chance of success within the larger GE Healthcare group," says Murphy. "The Whatman management team very much looks forward to working with the GE Healthcare leadership to maximize the potential of this great business."
Peter Ehrenheim, president and CEO of GE Healthcare's Life Sciences business points out Whatman's expertise and reputation in filtration technologies and sample preparation is a great fit for the company's Life Sciences business.
"It brings new technologies that are fundamental to helping researchers increase their understanding of the role of genes and proteins in disease," says Ehrenheim "We believe that combining the skills of the two companies will enable GE Healthcare to create strong added value for customers in biomedical and drug discovery research."
The transaction is subject to approval by Whatman's shareholders as well as customary regulatory approvals.
Moreover, the transaction has received unanimous support from the directors of Whatman, who have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction.
The largest shareholder of Whatman, Hermes Focus Asset Management Ltd, with approximately 15 percent of the outstanding shares of Whatman, has also agreed to vote in favor of the transaction. It is expected that the transaction will be completed in the second quarter of 2008.
Royalty Pharma, InNexus Biotechnology expand royalty rights agreement
NEW YORK –Royalty Pharma has purchased a second royalty interest from inNexus Biotechnology in an additional product targeting cancer based on InNexus' Dynamic Cross Linking (DXL) antibody enhancement technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Royalty Pharma exercised its option to purchase a second royalty interest for $2.5 million. Royalty Pharma had purchased a first royalty interest from InNexus for $2 million in April 2007 and made an additional at-market equity investment in InNexus in the amount of $1 million ($1.01/share). The total purchase price for the two royalty interests may be increased by up to an additional $30 million for the two products if certain conditions are fulfilled.
"Our partnership with Royalty Pharma has enabled us to launch into preclinical development our first product, DXL625, targeting lymphoma, which we are currently preparing for presentation to the Food & Drug Administration and filing an Investigational New Drug Application," says Jeff Morhet, chairman and CEO of InNexus.
"We are very excited to be working with Mr. Morhet and purchasing our second royalty interest from InNexus," adds Pablo Legorreta, CEO of Royalty Pharma. "We are pleased that InNexus has launched its first product based on their DXL technology into preclinical development and look forward to their future products, achievements and successes."
