Wuxi PharmaTech Inc (
AppTec, of St. Paul, Minnesota, is expected to have US$70 million to US$72 million in 2007 revenue with a compound annual growth rate of 46 percent, the companies said late Thursday in a statement. It has US$11.7 million in debt. Like Wuxi, AppTec provides lab testing of biopharmaceuticals and devices.
The deal gives Shanghai-based Wuxi, which does research for nine of the 10 largest drugmakers, access to AppTec's expertise in making biotechnology-based drugs, Wuxi said. This is the biggest Chinese takeover of a US company since Lenovo Group Ltd (
WHAT WUXI NEEDS
AppTec has "a very complimentary service which Wuxi needs," said Jinsong Du (
"It helps them build up their customer base and may potentially bring more service offerings," the analyst said.
Wuxi's stock has doubled from its initial public offering price in August, giving it a market value of US$1.77 billion. The stock surged US$1.46, or 5.1 percent, to US$30.30 on Thursday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
John Dooley, an outside spokesman representing Wuxi, said he couldn't immediately comment on the price. AppTec spokeswoman Julie Cooperman didn't return calls for comment.
Wuxi has 70 customers including New York-based Pfizer Inc, the world's biggest drugmaker.
The company had a net income of US$7.1 million in the quarter ended last June, compared with US$8.9 million for all of 2006, according to its share sale prospectus.
PROMOTED
Separately, Wuxi promoted Edward Hu (胡正國) to chief operating officer, the company said. Hu, hired in August as executive vice president of operations, was formerly chief operating officer at Tanox Inc, a Houston-based biotechnology company acquired in August by Genentech Inc, based in San Francisco, California.
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