Biopool Completes Private Stock Placement

Biopool International in Ventura has completed a private placement of 500,000 shares of common stock to help fund the acquisition of another company.

The stock, at $2.1875 per share, brought an aggregate purchase price of $1.09 million, company officials said.

The net proceeds from the offering will be used for Biopool’s acquisition of the Blood Group Serology business unit of Organon Teknika Corp.

The acquisition is structured as a purchase of certain assets of Organon, with total consideration of $4.5 million being paid in cash at closing.

Besides the stock offering, Biopool has received a $3.5-million loan from Sanwa Bank to fund the transaction.

“We believe that the bank financing and the issuance of a relatively small amount of common stock is a good blend to finance this acquisition,” said Michael D. Bick, Biopool chairman and CEO.

The assets being purchased include a 36,000-square-foot facility in West Chester, Pa., with about 50 employees at the site and 10 outside sales representatives, and equipment, technology and certain cell lines associated with the BGS business.

The BGS product line consists of more than 75 products sold worldwide for use by blood bank facilities to screen for specific antibodies and type whole blood. Based upon 1996 performance, Biopool expects sales of BGS products to exceed $8 million in 1997.

Biopool develops test kits to assess and diagnose various blood disorders.