Agenix dilutes stake in Singapore subsidiary

Listed Australian diagnostics biotech Agenix Ltd is diluting its stake in Singapore subsidiary PhytoProtein Biotech.

The change effectively slides PhytoProtein into the passive investment category for Agenix and reflects the parent company's intense focus on its next-generation product, the Thromboview blood clot-imaging candidate.

Malaysian investor Commerce Technology Ventures has picked up 12.2 per cent of PhytoProtein for about $A406,000, diluting to 27.85 per cent the 31 per cent slice Agenix acquired last year for $A521,000.

In the interim, PhytoProtein's share price has nearly doubled to $A12.

The injection of funds from CTV will allow PhytoProtein to accelerate research into the development and manufacture of recombinant antigens and proteins for use in diagnostic kits and animal vaccines, Agenix CEO Donald Home said in an ASX statement.

PhytoProtein's technology for producing immunogenic proteins using plant cell-based expressions systems might prove useful down at some later stage for Agenix' Thromboview platform.

However, the original investment in the Singapore company was more in the nature of a venture capital positioning, according to Agenix CTO Jeff Carter.

Agenix, which saw after-tax profits climb 435 per cent in the half-year to December, has been clearing the decks to concentrate on Thromboview which carries the company's future hopes.

For example, it has closed the Perth offices of its 100 per cent-owned subsidiary Industrial BioSystems which has been developing a proprietary enzyme with applications in the pulp and paper industry.

Agenix retains IBS' intellectual property but management resources being devoted to the company have been reduced to near-zero and the IP "has really been put on hold for somebody else to derive value from," says Carter.