We haven't even flipped the calendar to the next month, and Inverness Medical Innovations
Inverness announced yesterday that it had reached a deal to acquire tiny biotech company Matritech
Inverness will acquire all of Matritech's assets but none of its debt. Matritech plans to sell all of the Inverness stock it receives to pay off those obligations before distributing the remaining cash to its stockholders. The company estimates that it should be left with $10 million to $12 million after paying all its obligations. That's just $0.16-$0.19 per share -- but then, this is a small company.
Essentially, Inverness is buying the right to sell Matritech's NMP22 BladderChek Test, which accounted for 81% of Matritech's revenue last quarter. The point-of-care test is FDA-approved for the diagnosis and monitoring of bladder cancer. It works by measuring the amount of a marker for bladder cancer in bodily fluids.
Inverness looks to be getting a pretty good deal from the purchase. Matritech had $13.2 million in revenues during the trailing 12 months, and with the company's gross margin of 74% last year, its NMP22 test certainly has the possibility to be a moneymaker. Matritech has failed to show a profit so far because of sky-high selling, general, and administrative costs combined with an increasing amount of interest expenses, but Inverness won't have to deal with Matritech's debt and should be able to use its larger size to increase the net margins on its newly acquired products.
Inverness paid for both of its acquisitions this month by issuing new stock. Growth through share dilution can be a good, fast way for a company to grow, but it's also a great way to lower shareholder value if the company can't take full advantage of the weaknesses of the companies it acquires.
During Inverness' buying spree over the past year and a half, it also started a joint venture with Procter & Gamble
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Fool contributor Brian Orelli, Ph.D., doesn't own shares of any company mentioned in this article. The Fool has a disclosure policy.