NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Sequenom has acquired eBioscience's lease for office space in San Diego, it disclosed in a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
Sequenom entered into an agreement with eBioscience, which was acquired by Affymetrix for $315 million last year, taking over all of that firm's rights and obligations under an office lease dated April 27, 2009 between eBioscience and its landlord BMR-10240 Science Center Drive. Sequenom has the rights to occupy about 49,347 square feet of commercial and laboratory space.
The lease expires in July 2015. Sequenom will pay monthly rent of $123,861 through June 2013, $127,315 per month for the following year through June 2014, and $129,783 thereafter through the remainder of the lease. Sequenom has the option to extend the lease an additional five years.
Last week, Affy announced a restructuring effort that includes layoffs of 100 employees, or 8 percent of its workforce, to save $25 million on an annualized basis. An Affy official told GenomeWeb Daily News that the leasing out of the space is not a result of the restructuring and that no layoffs occurred at eBioscience, which has been trying to lease out excess capacity at the facility for about two years.