Und der innere Wert steigt durch die Lark Aquisition. Lark hat mal 500 Dollar gekostet, lang ists her.
Gruss E.
chart.bigcharts.com/bc3/quickchart/...27&mocktick=1&rand=2373"
Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to Acquire Lark Technologies, Inc. - Acquisition Complements Genaissance's Pharmacogenomic Base Business - - Significantly Increases Revenues; Adds Profitable Operation and UK Facility -
NEW HAVEN, Conn., and HOUSTON, Dec 19, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via Comtex/
-- Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNSC) and Lark Technologies, Inc (OTC Bulletin Board: LRKT) today announced that they have signed a definitive
agreement whereby Genaissance will acquire Lark in an all stock transaction.
Under the terms of the agreement, Genaissance will issue approximately 6.7
million shares of its common stock to Lark's stockholders, who will receive 1.81
shares of Genaissance's common stock for each share of Lark's common stock that
they own, and will assume outstanding Lark options exercisable for an aggregate
of approximately 1.5 million shares of Genaissance common stock. The transaction
is valued at approximately $19.9 million, based on the closing price of
Genaissance's common stock of $2.99 per share on December 18, 2003.
Following the transaction, Genaissance expects to have projected pro-forma
revenues in excess of $25 million for calendar 2004, a substantially reduced
operating loss, an expanded pharmacogenomic service and technology portfolio
with facilities in the U.S. and England and additional financial resources to
advance the development of pharmacogenomic based proprietary products. Dr. Carl
Balezentis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lark, will join Genaissance
as Senior Vice President and President, Lark Technologies.
Lark, headquartered in Houston, Texas, with European operations located near
Cambridge, England, offers Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) compliant and
research genomic services for use in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and agricultural
product research and development. For the nine months ended September 30, 2003,
Lark reported revenues of $6.8 million, net income of $1.2 million and operating
income of $1.6 million.
"The acquisition of Lark is an exciting next step in the execution of our
strategy to build a profitable base services business while developing
proprietary products based on our HAP(TM) Technology," said Kevin Rakin,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Genaissance Pharmaceuticals. "The
addition of Lark will provide us with access to a broader client base, a GLP
sequencing capability that complements our existing GLP genotyping ability, a
strong and growing European operation and an experienced team focused on
profitable revenue generation. Most importantly, as we look forward, a
profitable base services business will generate additional funds for the
development of proprietary diagnostic and pharmaceutical products. I am also
very pleased to welcome Dr. Carl Balezentis and his team to Genaissance."
The transaction has been approved unanimously by both Boards of Directors and is
subject to shareholder approval by both companies and other customary closing
conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2004. The
dates of special stockholder meetings for shareholders of Lark and Genaissance
will be announced at a later date.
"The combined company's capabilities will provide the pharmaceutical industry a
pharmacogenomic solution spanning early stage research through clinical
development and commercialization," said Carl W. Balezentis, Ph.D., President
and Chief Executive Officer of Lark Technologies. "By becoming part of
Genaissance, we expect to grow significantly our combined business through
additional product offerings, cross selling of services and technologies and the
ability to partner on specific product development opportunities. We are
especially excited about the existing and potential programs for product
development at Genaissance and the value that our shareholders may derive by
participating in the further development and commercialization of these
pharmacogenomic product programs."
Legg Mason Wood Walker, Incorporated and EMA Partners, LLC served as financial
advisors to Genaissance in the transaction and Southwest Securities, Inc. served
as financial advisor to Lark Technologies.
About Lark Technologies