NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Spanish healthcare products firm Grifols said today that it has invested $50 million for a 20 percent stake in diagnostics and laboratory testing services firm Singulex.
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the investment has a fully diluted pre-money valuation of $200 million and entitles Grifols to appoint a director to Singulex's board.
The deal also provides Grifols with an exclusive worldwide license to Singulex's single-molecule counting technology — which allows for the detection of single molecules such as proteins and metabolites in complex biological samples — for use in blood donor and plasma screening. Singulex licensed the research-use rights to the technology to EMD Millipore last year.
The Singulex deal marks the latest step in Grifols ongoing effort to bolster its diagnostics division. Earlier this year, the company exercised an option to acquire 32.9 percent of Progenika, boosting its stake in the molecular diagnostics company to 89.1 percent. And in late 2013, Grifols acquired Novartis' transfusion diagnostics business for $1.68 billion.