Aim-listed pharmaceutical company Abcam bought US-based antibodies company Epitomics International for $170m on Monday.
The acquisition price included $15m of cash on Epitomic’s balance sheet. The remaining $155m was paid half in Abcam shares and half in cash.
Epitomics has said on its website its shareholders included Chiron Corporation co-founder William Rutter, as well as venture firms Sycamore Ventures, Kenson Ventures, Amkey Ventures, and Brilliant Capital.
The company said in 2010 it had spun off portfolio company to shareholders Apexigen, a company which focuses on the development and commercialisation of humanised antibodies to treat cancer and immuno-disorders. Other shareholders in the company included venture firm Pac-Link BioVentures, which invested in 2005. Pac-Link was set up as an affiliate of the Yulon Group, a Taipei listed automotive company.
The company has raised more than $30m in its history. The company said in 2010 it had raised $14m in new funding at the time of the Apexigen spin-out. In 2009 the company said it had raised $2.5m of a planned $5m round, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
In 2004 it added in another filing it had raised $11m. In 2003 it secured $3.1m in series B funding. It is unclear what the series A round raised.