Emergent BioSolutions Inc. this week announced that its Board of Directors has authorized management to pursue a tax-free spin-off of the company’s Biosciences business into a separate, stand-alone publicly-traded company.
The spin-off is expected to create two independent public companies with distinct strategic plans, growth strategies, and operational and development priorities.
The new Biosciences company, to be named at a later date, will focus on providing novel oncology and hematology therapeutics to meaningfully improve patients’ lives. The core technology of the Biosciences company will be its ADAPTIR platform applied to immuno-oncology.
Emergent BioSolutions will continue to operate as a global specialty biopharmaceutical company whose core business is focused on providing specialty biodefense products for civilian and military populations that address intentional and naturally emerging public health threats.
“The proposed spin-off recognizes that our two operating divisions have evolved into distinct business and investment opportunities. The Biosciences spin-off establishes each as a pure play company with a focused strategy and enables each company to target investors attracted to its business profile,” said Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Emergent BioSolutions. “This transaction will allow us to accelerate our growth strategy while enabling the new Biosciences company to invest in novel therapeutics in the highly attractive immuno-oncology field. We expect the spin-off to enhance business focus, better align resources to achieve strategic priorities, and unlock significant value for both companies.”
Emergent believes that establishing the Biosciences business as a stand-alone public company offers a number of benefits. The spin-off will enable each company to tailor business strategies to best address opportunities within its target market, pursue distinct capital structures and capital allocation strategies, and target investors attracted to its business profile.
The news comes the same week the company launched a ruggedized, military-grade auto-injector device, known as Emergard, which is designed for intramuscular self-injection of chemical threat agent antidotes and other emergency response medical treatments.
Emergent expects to provide the Biosciences company with a fixed cash contribution of $50 million to $70 million. Additional sources of cash to support R&D investment will include commercial product sales and partnership funding.
