Evotec said today it has offered to acquire Cyprotex for £55.36 million ($67.6 million) in a deal designed to strengthen the buyer’s drug discovery efforts.

Founded in 1999, Cyprotex is a CRO specializing in absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADME-Tox) services as well as drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) studies. The company launched its bioscience division last year to expand into phenotypic and target-based screening.

In addition to biopharma, Cyprotex serves the chemical, cosmetics, and personal care industries.

Evotec said the acquisition of Cyprotex would enhance its offerings to biopharmas seeking to test or predict a molecule’s suitability as a drug at an early stage with what it termed the market’s most industrialized ADME-Tox platform, plus expertise in in vitro ADME screening, mechanistic and high-content toxicology screening, and predictive modeling.

“The proven technology platform of Cyprotex and its expert and dedicated employees will be a strong addition to our best-in-class drug discovery platform and resources,” Evotec COO Mario Polywka, Ph.D., said in a statement. “We also expect that both organizations will leverage their extensive partner networks to identify further commercial synergies.”

Evotec's board has approved its offer to buy Cyprotex, which is expected to be completed by year's end.

Evotec’s cash offer for Cyprotex includes acquisition of all 26.1 million shares issued and to be issued, as well as the funding of all existing company debt. At £1.60 ($1.95) per Cyprotex share, Evotec’s offer represents a 9.4% premium to the share’s volume weighted average price over the past 30 trading days on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market.

Evotec said the acquisition would add to its revenues and to its 2017 earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes, and amortization (EBIDTA). Cyprotex finished the first half of 2016 with EBIDTA of £2.34 million ($2.86 million), more than double that of January–June 2015, on revenues of £8.73 million ($10.66 million), up 26% from a year earlier.

Cyprotex has 136 employees and is headquartered in Macclesfield, U.K., near Manchester, with locations in Alderley Park, U.K., as well as Watertown, MA and Kalamazoo, MI.

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