Denmark's Pharmexa A/S and privately-held Norwegian firm Affitech AS have entered into a conditional agreement to merge the two companies by means of a share for share transaction. The purpose is to transform Pharmexa from a cancer and infectious disease vaccine business into a company focused on the R&D of human antibody therapeutic drugs.
Under the terms of the accord, Pharmexa will offer to acquire 100% of the outstanding and issued share capital of Affitech in exchange for newly-issued stock of Pharmexa. On completion of the transaction, Affitech's shareholders will own about 70% and Pharmexa's 30% of the merged group. The combined company will be renamed Affitech A/S and it is aimed to continue its listing on the Nasdaq OMX exchange in Copenhagen. The existing Affitech drug discovery business in Oslo will be renamed Affitech Research AS. As part of the merger, certain Affitech shareholders will undertake to participate in a new share issue which Pharmexa expects to take place during the second or third quarter of this year.
Announcing the merger, Achim Kaufhold, chief executive of the Danish firm, said: "Pharmexa has experienced product setbacks over the last year which have led us to consider a variety of strategic options to revitalize the business and to generate future value for our shareholders. The acquisition of Affitech builds on the expertise and capabilities of Pharmexa, but is also a transformational event that moves us into the exciting field of antibody therapeutics, one of the most attractive sectors of the biopharmaceutical industry. Following several high-value mergers and acquisitions in the antibody discovery field, Affitech remains one of only a limited number of independent companies with a strong position in high-throughput screening of antibody libraries."
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