Washington DC (July 23, 2010) – FOCUS LLC, a national middle market investment banking firm providing merger, acquisition, divestiture and corporate finance services, announced today that the Bioline group of companies has been acquired by Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIVO). FOCUS represented Bioline in this transaction.
The acquisition included the purchase of all the outstanding capital stock of the Bioline group consisting of Bioline Ltd (UK), Bioline GmbH (Germany), Bioline (Austria) Pty Ltd (Australia), Bioline Reagents Ltd, and Bioline USA, Inc. for $23.3 million in cash.
Bioline, headquartered in London, manufactures and distributes highly specialized molecular biology reagents for the life science research, biotech, pharmaceutical and commercial diagnostic markets. The company is a high-quality, large-volume producer of nucleotides, DNA polymerase enzymes, and other core reagents for molecular biology which are the critical components used in PCR testing for DNA, RNA, and other genomic testing. Annual revenues in 2010 are expected to exceed $12 million.
Marco Calzavara, Chief Executive Officer of Bioline, stated, “As a company founder who has built a bioscience business over 18 years, I selected FOCUS as our investment bank because of their biotechnology expertise and because of their understanding of the needs of an entrepreneur owner embarking on his first company sale. I was attracted to the fact that FOCUS offers a step-by-step process and worked closely with me every step of the way.”
Meridian is a fully integrated life science company that manufactures, markets and distributes a broad range of innovative diagnostic test kits, purified reagents and related products and offers biopharmaceutical enabling technologies.
Jack Kraeutler, Chief Executive Officer of Meridian, stated, “Bioline is an ideal acquisition that augments our Meridian life science business with additional products and services and provides greater global coverage. FOCUS understood our interests as a strategic buyer and worked effectively to bring this transaction to completion.”
“We approached target companies on a worldwide basis,” said Gerald Turner, FOCUS Managing Director and co-manager of the transaction. “In Meridian I believe we found the right match for Bioline.”
Dr. Jim Hawkins, FOCUS Managing Director and co-manager of the transaction, said, “The union of Bioline and Meridian will bring together a company with powerful state-of-the-art technologies and a sophisticated management group with proven experience in product development and sales in multiple markets. This is the type of transaction we strive to facilitate at FOCUS — where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
About FOCUS LLC
FOCUS LLC provides a range of middle market investment banking services with an emphasis on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and corporate finance. FOCUS is a national firm serving clients from offices in major cities across the United States. FOCUS specializes in business units with transactions or revenues in the $5-300 million range, serving entrepreneurs, corporate owners and various types of investors across a broad range of industries, throughout the U.S. and worldwide. FOCUS bankers are seasoned operating and financial executives with extensive transaction experience. Securities transactions conducted by FOCUS Securities LLC, an affiliated company, registered Broker/Dealer and Member FINRA/SIPC. For more information on FOCUS, visit www.focusbankers.com.
