AIM-quoted biotech company Vastox has acquired DanioLabs and Dextra Laboratories.
DanioLabs, a private UK drug discovery company was acquired for £15m payable through the issue of 11,732,361 new ordinary shares of Vastox and £159,000 in cash of which 10% is deferred for a year.
Meanwhile Dextra Laboratories, a specialist chemist, has been acquired for £1.5m payable through the issue of 1,185,771 new ordinary shares in Vastox.
The deals represent an important step for Vastox and will help to strengthen and diversify the company's drug discovery and development pipeline by adding clinical and pre-clinical programmes in neurological and ophthalmic diseases.
At the same time, the deal will enhance chemistry expertise and capabilities and boost its scientific infrastructure with the acquisition of two high-tech laboratory facilities in Cambridge and Reading.
The company was advised by Russell Brooker from the Pinsent Masons team on the deal.
Darren Millington, chief financial officer of Vastox, said: “We operate in specialist fields both in terms of our core business and as a developing company on AIM.
“Working with the team at Pinsent Masons, which has advised us from day one and understands what we are trying to achieve, we have been consistently offered high quality advice attuned to our needs.
“Russell and his colleagues ensured that we managed two simultaneous transactions and successfully delivered both on time and within budget."
DanioLabs were advised by Eversheds and Taylor Wessing whereas Dextra Laboratories were advised by Complete Legal.
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