SmithKline Increases Its Shares of Synbiotics

Synbiotics Corp. confirmed Wednesday that a unit of SmithKline Beckman Corp. of Philadelphia has increased its holdings in Synbiotics to 280,000 shares, to 8.1% of the total outstanding.

The most recent purchase by SmithKline’s S.R. One Ltd. venture capital unit was for 80,000 shares on Aug. 13 at $8.25 per share, Synbiotics chief executive Ed Maggio said. SmithKline bought its other 200,000 shares at Synbiotics’ 1.75 million-share public stock offering June 3, he said.

SmithKline also disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that one of its reasons for buying the shares was to encourage commercial relationships between the two companies. Maggio would not comment on whether the companies plan joint activities.