Manchester-based Yourgene Health plc, an international molecular diagnostics firm, said on Tuesday it acquired Versailles-based AGX-DPNI S.A.S. for £2 million cash plus up to £1.4 million in cash earn-out payments based on sales growth performance criteria.
AGX-DPNI is a newly formed entity comprised of the NIPT distribution business of AdGeniX, Yourgene Health’s current French distribution partner for its IONA test.
Yourgene Health said in a stock exchange statement: “In addition, the company has raised gross proceeds of £2.5 million by way of a direct subscription of 17,482,517 new ordinary shares at 14.3p per ordinary share with BGF Investment Management Limited, an existing significant shareholder of the company.”
Yourgene develops and commercialises molecular diagnostic solutions, primarily for reproductive health.
The group’s products include non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) for Down’s Syndrome and other genetic disorders, Cystic Fibrosis screening tests, invasive rapid aneuploidy tests, male infertility tests and genetic disease tests.
Yourgene Health shares rose 3.8% to around 14.79p to give the firm a current stock market value of around £90 million.
Yourgene Health CEO Lyn Rees said: “The acquisition of our French distributor makes sense for Yourgene on a number of levels.
“This has an immediate and positive impact on earnings and is an opportunity to fully capitalise on our rising NIPT sales in this growing market alongside our current direct sales of additional reproductive health products.
“This also allows us to gain maximum benefit from the launch of our Illumina-based IONA test and increases our ability to range-sell additional content into France and beyond.
“Whilst this provides us with our first direct commercial presence in Europe, and gives us an EU-based presence post-Brexit, it also opens up access to high growth French speaking African and Middle Eastern markets not previously addressed by Yourgene.
“I would also like to thank BGF for their continued support for our ambitious growth strategy.”