The acquisition is expected to be implemented by way of a court approved scheme of arrangement, whereby BBI would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Inverness Medical. The acquisition is conditioned on court approval of the scheme and a favorable vote by BBI shareholders.
Of the total 42.9 million issued and outstanding BBI shares, 5.2 million shares are already held by a subsidiary of Inverness. In addition, BBI employees also have options to purchase 5.3 million shares. Inverness intends to offer each option holder the opportunity to exchange his or her existing BBI options for a new Inverness option with the equivalent market value.
Ron Zwanziger, CEO of Inverness, said: “We are pleased to propose that BBI join the Inverness family of companies. We have had a long and positive relationship with BBI, and Inverness strongly believes that their capabilities in developing novel lateral flow based rapid diagnostic products and in developing and manufacturing high performance reagents and biological materials for use in those products would greatly complement our existing business.”