Plasvacc pulls out of sale to Bioniche

The proposed acquisition of Queensland-based Plasvacc Holdings by Canadian biopharmaceutical company Bioniche has been called off after negotiations collapsed between the two companies.

On 4 July Bioniche signed a letter of intent with Plasvacc to acquire the company’s assets, including inventories, property, plant, equipment and intellectual property owned by Plasvacc and its subsidiaries.

This was intended to strengthen Bioniche’s animal health portfolio with Plasvaac’s serum-derived plasma products.

However, according to Plasvacc Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Macarthur, negotiations with Bioniche had “collapsed” and there was no chance of them being resurrected.

“We entered into negotiations with Bioniche in good faith, but after months of discussions the Plasvaac board has reached the firm conclusion that the sale of its business to Bioniche is not in the best interests of staff, creditors, shareholders and other stakeholders,” he said. “The board now intends to proceed as an independent company with a sole focus on growing organically for the foreseeable future.”

Graeme McRae, Chairman, President & CEO of Bioniche Life Sciences, declared the collapse of the negotiations was disappointing.

“We are disappointed that we could not successfully conclude this acquisition,” he said “However, this outcome does not affect our intentions to selectively acquire rights to commercially-important animal health products and technologies, one of the stated uses of proceeds for our C$28.9 million concurrent financings in Canada and Australia completed earlier this year. A number of other potential acquisitions are currently under consideration.”