Biopool International Announces Sale of BCA Division
Tuesday April 6, 9:04 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
VENTURA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 1999--Biopool International Inc. (Nasdaq:BIPL - news) Tuesday announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its immunohematology (blood-bank reagent) business to Immucor Inc. (Nasdaq:BLUD - news) of Norcross, Ga.
The asset purchase agreement calls for an all-cash transaction for the business operated as Biopool International's ''BCA Division,'' and the transaction is expecte to close on or about May 1, 1999. The purchase price is $3.0 million for net working capital plus $1.5 million for the product lines.
Biopool will retain ownership of the plant, property and equipment in the West Chester, Pa., facility and will operate the facility on behalf of Immucor during the transition period.
With this cash sale and a short-term effort to realize the value in the West Chester facility, Biopool expects to generate a significant amount of liquidity. This new liquidity will position Biopool to take advantage of acquisitions or investments opportunities that will facilitate growth in Biopool's core business segment.
Michael D. Bick, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Biopool, commented: ''When we purchased this business in January 1997, we expected to achieve certain synergies between it and Biopool's core hemostasis business. Numerous changes in the dynamics of the blood- bank reagent market have worked against us to realize this ambition.
''Immucor has been consolidating the immunohematology business through their acquisition of Dominion Biologicals Ltd. in 1997 and, more recently, by acquiring Gamma Biologicals in November 1998, positioning itself as the market leader for these products in the U.S. Being a distant third in that market dictates that we change our strategy and return our focus to our core hemostasis business.''
Bick continued, ''With the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of Biopool's APC sensitivity test for determination of thrombotic risk, as well as achieving very significant strides in building upon our D-dimer reagent platform, we need to refocus on building upon Biopool's position as a technological leader in hemostasis and cardiovascular disease, which has consistently been our most profitable business.''
Immucor, founded in 1982, manufactures and sells a complete line of reagents and systems used by hospitals, reference laboratories and donor centers to detect and identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of blood prior to transfusion. Immucor markets a complete family of automated instrumentation for all of its market segments.
Founded in 1987, Biopool International develops, manufactures and markets a full range of test kits to assess and diagnose disorders of blood coagulation, thrombotic risk factors, fibrinolysis, platelet function and the vascular system, and specialty chemistry controls used to monitor and measure the presence of drugs of abuse.
The company's product line is sold to hospitals, clinical laboratories, commercial reference laboratories and research institutions on a worldwide basis by the company's own sales representatives as well as through an extensive network of distributors. To learn more about Biopool, visit the company's Web site at biopool.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the generation of significant liquidity and the closing date of a definitive agreement with Immucor, which are based upon current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to technological innovations of competitors, changes in health-care regulations, litigation claims, foreign- currency fluctuation, product acceptance or changes in government regulation of the company's products, as well as other factors discussed in the company's last report on Form 10-K-SB under ''Risk Factors.''
Contact:
Biopool International Inc., Ventura
Michael D. Bick or Carol Hill, 805/654-0643 |
