Life science technology developer Bio-Techne agreed yesterday to acquire US-based genomic services and cancer testing kit provider Asuragen for up to $320m, enabling pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co to exit.
The deal consists of $215m in cash upfront and an additional $105m contingent upon the satisfaction of certain conditions. Matt McManus, chief executive officer of Asuragen, will join Bio-Techne and continue to lead the Asuragen business.
Asuragen provides genetic screening technology used in the study of inherited genetic disorders as well as testing kits for the detection of cancers. It generated over $30m of revenue globally in 2021.
The company was spun off by Ambion, an RNA purification products provider that has since become a part of scientific instrument producer Thermo Fisher Scientific, in 2016.
The deal comes after unnamed investors provided $7.5m for the company in 2013 according to a regulatory filing, two years after it raised $5m from an undisclosed investor likely to be Merck & Co, according to a separate filing. Merck’s Global Health Innovation Fund also lists it as a portfolio company on its website.
PTV Sciences, Telegraph Hill Partners and Growth Capital Partners participated in an $18.5m series B round for the company in 2007, after Telegraph Hill led a $49m series A round backed by Growth Capital Partners and undisclosed investors the previous year.