NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Canadian molecular diagnostics firm GeneNews announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Cobalt Healthcare Consultants' stake in clinical reference lab Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory (IDL).
IDL was formed in 2013 as a joint venture between GeneNews, Cobalt, and Health Diagnostic Laboratory (HDL). In mid-2015, GeneNews and Cobalt bought HDL's 33 percent stake in IDL for $4 million, giving them each equal ownership of the lab.
Under the terms of the newly announced deal, GeneNews will acquire Cobalt's 50 percent share of IDL, giving it full control of the company. In exchange, GeneNews will assume any and all of Cobalt's liability relating to a $1 million secured demand promissory note payable to HDL, which is due in May 2017.
GeneNews added that the transaction is contingent on it completing a strategic financing later this month.
"In recent months, we have taken a number of important steps to get the Company on a more solid footing to support an orderly restructuring of its operations," GeneNews Executive Chairman James Howard-Tripp said in a statement. "With a number of difficult decisions behind us and this purchasing agreement in place, we are now much better prepared to pursue the working capital we need to restore IDL's corporate viability and re-establish its growth trajectory."
As reported by GenomeWeb, GeneNews has been facing financial troubles with IDL, and late last year was considering restructuring and possibly selling itself. At the end of 2015, the company announced that it was borrowing $400,000 to stay afloat and had laid off 16 workers at IDL.