Diagnostics firm Novacyt has agreed a takeover of Yourgene, a genomic medicine company based in Manchester, in a deal worth £16.7 million.
Novacyt's post-COVID-19 strategy, set out in early 2022, focused on the twin objectives of portfolio development and geographic expansion and included pursuing strategic M&A transactions to build scale and diversification to support the long-term growth of the business.
The acquisition – planned to complete in the third quarter of 2023 - will create a more scaled, diversified operator in the diagnostics sector, combining the two firms’ highly complementary technologies and services.
Novacyt will be able to invest in research and development to develop Yourgene's service and product offering over the long term, through utilisation of combined capital resources and commercial infrastructure. The company says that Yourgene's core NIPT offering and PCR portfolio has significant growth potential that can be further accelerated with Novacyt’s support, given its strong financial position.
Commenting on the acquisition, James McCarthy, acting Chief Executive Officer of Novacyt, said: "We regard Yourgene as a highly respected company with a world class team of employees that offers differentiated solutions to customers. We consider Novacyt and Yourgene to be highly complementary and expect the combination of the two businesses to benefit stakeholders of both Novacyt and Yourgene."
Lyn Rees, Chief Executive Officer of Yourgene, added: "The prospect and scale of what the new enlarged group could bring to our customers, employees and other stakeholders is exciting given the complementary fit of both businesses. Whilst the two companies work within the same molecular diagnostic space, they both bring distinctive strengths and are focused on different market segments, which opens up further opportunities for growth."
Novacyt is an international diagnostics business delivering a broad portfolio of in vitro and molecular diagnostic tests for a wide range of infectious diseases. It specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of real-time PCR kits, reagents and a full range of laboratory and qPCR instrumentation for molecular biology research and clinical use. Novacyt offers a varied and comprehensive range of qPCR assays, covering human, veterinary, biodefence, environmental, agriculture and food testing.