NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Life Technologies said today it has completed its tender offer and acquired a 74 percent stake in synthetic gene company Geneart for roughly €38 million ($47 million).
On April 9, Life Tech purchased about 2.6 million shares, or 59 percent, of Geneart's common outstanding shares at €11.59 per share. The amount represented the stake held by management, founders, and venture capital investors in the Regensburg, Germany-based gene synthesis firm.
On April 13, Life Tech made a public tender offer to purchase all remaining shares of the company. At the close of the tender offer period at midnight on May 25, shareholders of Geneart had tendered in aggregate about 554,000 shares of the company's stock at €13.75 per share.
On Thursday, Geneart reported net sales of €4.6 million for its first quarter, up 13 percent from €4 million in Q1 2009. The company had sales of €17 million for full-year 2009.
Life Tech said in a statement that the deal is not anticipated to have a material effect on its business for 2010.