Developer and manufacturer of purified proteins, Techne Corp. (TECH) recently acquired Littleton, CO-based Novus Biologicals for $60 million in cash. Novus Biologicals is a supplier of both outsourced and in-house developed antibodies and other reagents for life science research.
The acquisition is expected to complement TECH’s expanding portfolio of products, primarily sold to biomedical researchers and clinical research laboratories. The news, however, failed to impress investors as the stock price fell approximately 3.2% since the acquisition was announced.
The inclusion of Novus Biologicals is expected to strengthen TECH’s antibody business. More specifically, Novus Biological will provide access to a wide range of high quality antibody content for potential inclusion in TECH’s new assays and kits.
Novus Biologicals’ antibody content will also be available for use with instruments that TECH intends to offer following completion of a pending acquisition transaction. Furthermore, TECH plans to combine Novus Biologicals’ digital marketing competence with its strong management team.
Novus Biologicals has a collection of more than 250,000 products that are delivered through a digital commercial platform. The acquisition of Novus Biologicals is in sync with TECH’s objective of expanding its product offering and providing its customers with the most comprehensive products for research needs.
The combined entity, providing a wide array of technical solutions and tools, will represent a unique one-stop-shop for its worldwide customers.
The Novus Biologicals transaction has been financed with cash on hand and closed on Jul 2. This latest deal comes close on the heels of a series of acquisitions and investments made by TECH.
Last month, TECH acquired Santa Clara, CA-based developer of proprietary systems and consumables for protein analysis, ProteinSimple, for $300 million in cash.
In Apr 2014, R&D Systems China Co. Ltd. (R&D China), a subsidiary of the TECH group, entered into an agreement to acquire 100% ownership interest in Shanghai PrimeGene Bio-Tech Co. – a developer, manufacturer and distributor of recombinant proteins for research and diagnostic applications.
Earlier in the same month, TECH announced a $10 million investment in CT-based CyVek Inc., with plans to eventually acquire the entire company if certain milestones are met.
Currently, TECH carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the medical instruments industry include Masimo Corp. (MASI), Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (ATEC) and Hologic Inc. (HOLX). While Masimo sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both Alphatec Holdings and Hologic carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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