Cool. From an IPO to the sale of the shell within nine months. I'm amazed that Ivax would do a deal with this company. They must have used some of BTBC's disinfectant. Having said that, there may actually be some value here. We need to know more about Ivax Diagnstics. No 8-K yet.
biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday November 21, 5:30 pm Eastern Time
Ivax diagnostics unit to acquire b2bstores.com
(UPDATE: Adds president's comments, details, closing share price)
By Jed Seltzer
NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Generic drug maker Ivax Corp.
(AMEX:IVX - news) said on Tuesday its diagnostics unit has formed a definitive agreement to acquire business-to-business
company b2bStores.com (NasdaqSC:BTBC - news) for an undisclosed amount in a move to take Ivax Diagnostics public.
The company said the Internet operations of b2bstores.com, which had already been downsizing, would be discontinued. Ivax would gain the assets of
b2bstores.com.
Ivax president and vice chairman Neil Flanzraich said on Tuesday the company was not gaining any tremendous distribution network through the acquisition. He told Reuters the purchase was ``a vehicle to make Ivax Diagnostics a public company.''
Under the deal, b2bstores.com would issue 20 million shares of newly issued common stock to Ivax Corp. in exchange for all the outstanding shares of Ivax
Diagnostics.
If the deal is closed, Ivax Diagnostics would purchase b2bstores.com, giving parent company Ivax Corp. about 68 percent of the combined company's equity. The
boards of both Ivax and b2bstores.com have approved the deal, which is now subject to shareholder approval.
The combined company would be publicly traded under the name Ivax Diagnostics Inc.
Core Drugs Business
Flanzraich said the deal is further evidence of Ivax's continued focus on the pharmaceutical business.
``What this signals is a strategy over the last few years of focusing on the pharmaceutical business, especially the branded and generic business,'' he said. He said the company had sold some non-core business in the last few years.
Flanzraich said the acquisition announced Tuesday is essentially a method of making Ivax Diagnostics public.
He added that the combined company would have about $22 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Dr. Phillip Frost, chairman and chief executive of Ivax Corp., would serve as the chairman of the new company. Ivax has recently begun marketing of its generic
version of Bristol-Myers Squibb's (NYSE:BMY - news) blockbuster cancer drug Taxol.
Last week, a report on the generic form of the cancer drug, Paclitaxel, suggested the company was months away from making it widely available.
Flanzraich said Tuesday the company is comfortable with the gear-up for introducing the drug for ovarian and breast cancers and would increase production in the
months ahead.
He added that asthma medicines in the company's pipeline would soon be approved and gain significant sales.
``We think they'll be the best asthma products on the market,'' he said.
Ivax shares closed up $0.60 at $37.75 on the American Stock Exchange on Tuesday, and shares of b2bstores.com were up 5/32 at $1-13/16 on the Nasdaq. |
