Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc (CBI), (NASDAQ: CBTE) today
announced that it has completed the acquisition of all of the
outstanding capital stock of Tripos Discovery Research Limited, an
English limited company ("TDR"). TDR is a world leader in medicinal
and combinatorial chemistry and provides products and services that
are complementary to CBI's existing offerings in biologics and custom
peptides. The TDR acquisition provides CBI with a strategic production
and sales and marketing site in the United Kingdom and is designed to
accelerate the CBI's revenue and earnings growth. On a pro-forma
basis, the acquisition of TDR represents an increase in CBI's 2006
revenues to $16.4 million and upon closing increases CBI's cash
position to $5.36 million.
CBI's CEO, Dr Paul D'Sylva said, "CBI's acquisition of TDR is in
line with our company's strategy to expand its drug discovery and
development services in the field of pre-clinical chemistry and to
extend the sale of its full suite of products and services into
Europe. With the additional technical and commercial capabilities and
resources that TDR brings, CBI anticipates that it will be able to
grow a powerful, robust and diverse drug discovery services franchise
servicing the growing global drug discovery market. Immediate cost and
revenue synergies are expected from this transaction, which will
accelerate CBI's continued growth."
Under the terms of the transaction, which was unanimously approved
by CBI's Board of Directors, CBI has acquired all of the outstanding
capital stock of TDR for an up-front payment of $350,000 followed by
payments of up to $1.8 million from TDR receivables and billings.
Concurrent with this transaction, TDR is entering into a
sale-leaseback transaction with the South West of England Regional
Development Authority ("SWERDA") for a 12 year lease of the facilities
in Bude renewable every 3 years, and has been released from grant
repayment obligations with the English Department of Trade and
Industry and various inter-company advances from TDR's former parent
organization, Tripos, Inc., a Utah corporation.
CBI's Chairman Dr Richard Freer said, "TDR is widely acknowledged
as one of the premier drug discovery service companies in the world.
With this transaction, the CBI group now offers comprehensive
discovery products and services across the three major drug classes of
biologics, peptides and small molecules. We at CBI are very excited
about the potential this transaction has to grow our top line revenue
and bottom line result."
About Tripos Discovery Research Limited
Tripos Discovery Research Ltd ("TDR") is a leading knowledge
driven, drug discovery services business that provides pharmaceutical
and biotechnology companies with novel approaches to drug discovery.
Applying proprietary computational design and therapeutic medicinal
chemistry tools and expertise, TDR is able to reduce drug discovery
timelines by up to 30%. Since 1997, TDR has been offering compound
libraries under the LeadQuest(R) brand, screening libraries under the
LeadScreen(R) brand and custom de novo compound libraries under the
LeadSelect(R) brand.
About Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc
The CBI group offers cutting-edge R&D products and services to the
global life sciences industry. CBI now operates four distinct business
units: (1) CBI Services, a discovery phase contract research
organization, (2) Fairfax Identity Laboratories, a DNA reference
business; (3) Mimotopes, a peptide and discovery chemistry business;
and (4) TDR, a medicinal and synthetic discovery chemistry business.
Collectively, CBI companies employ over 140 staff in world-class
laboratories in the U.S., U.K., and Australia.
Forward Looking Statements
The statements contained in this press release that are not purely
historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended,
including statements regarding CBI's expectations, beliefs, intentions
or strategies regarding the future. Forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, express or implied statements
regarding future revenues, revenue growth and profitability, and the
markets for its services. All forward-looking statements included in
this press release are based upon information available to CBI as of
the date hereof. CBI assumes no obligation to update any such
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks
and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected. Actual results may differ materially
due to a number of factors including the perceived need for CBI's
services, CBI's ability to efficiently incorporate TDR into its
operations and macro economic conditions. These and other risks
relating to CBI's business are set forth in CBI's Form 10-KSB filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2007, and
CBI's Form 10-QSBs and other reports filed from time to time with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.