Deltagen adds to discovery offering with Benten buy
Benten’s service offerings will supplement Deltagen’s knockout mouse lines and its wholly-owned subsidiary Xenopharm’s humanized mouse models and xenobiotic technologies.
The addition of Benten’s suite of services will allow Deltagen to improve predictability and efficiency by providing its biopharmaceutical and academic partners with support during the entire drug development and approval process, from early-stage target validation through regulatory and post-approval consulting services.
In a statement, Constantine Anagnostopoulos, chairman of the board of directors of Deltagen, said: “The acquisition of Benten, with its broad bioservice capabilities and significant funds, will expand Deltagen’s potential to provide comprehensive support for our biopharmaceutical partners through all stages of their discovery and development efforts. This expansion … positions Deltagen to increase revenue generation and enhance growth potential for our shareholders.”
Robert Driscoll, CEO of Deltagen and Xenopharm, added: “We believe that this transaction leverages Deltagen’s ability to realize enhanced benefit for our customers and shareholders. Because Benten’s service offerings will be applicable to biopharmaceuticals throughout all stages of product development, the potential market opportunity is significant.
“Moreover, the complementarity of Deltagen’s, Xenopharm’s and Benten’s technologies and the commonality of their customer bases make this acquisition and merger a uniquely well-fitted combination.”
In exchange for all of Benten’s outstanding shares of stock, Deltagen issued 9,126,085 shares of common stock to former Benten shareholders. In addition, Penn Venture Partners and the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania invested a total of $1.5m (€1m) in the combined company.
Deltagen was valued at $7m before the transaction and the combined company was valued at $8.5m. The transaction valuation represents approximately $0.164 per Deltagen share, with a total of 51,714,483 shares outstanding after the closing. Former Benten shareholders own 17.65 per cent of Deltagen’s outstanding common stock.
Benten was founded by Paula MacDonald and Harvey Schlesinger, who were hired as Deltagen employees effective 1 July 2009. MacDonald will serve as president and CEO of Benten and Schlesinger will serve as vice president of the company. Benten will be located in Pennsylvania and operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deltagen.
