Tripos to buy informatics specialist
to acquire privately held Optive Research, which develops software
for computer-assisted molecular discovery.
Tripos said the acquisition would expand its ability to enable its biotechnology, pharmaceutical and related life science customers to bring new drugs and other important chemical compounds to market faster and more efficiently. The company also recently opened a chemistry research facility in the UK.
The informatics firm will pay for Optive with 599,521 shares of its common stock and $4.75 million, and the cash portion will be funded by a group of new investors.
The agreement is a logical extension of Tripos' existing collaboration with Optive founder Dr Robert Pearlman. The company has been distributing soiftware developed by Pearman at the University of Texas at Austin since 1987, and that relationship continued when Dr. Pearlman formed Optive Research as a technology spinout from the university in 2002.
Tripos currently distributes five of more than 15 products in Optive's software portfolio, including DiverseSolutions, StereoPlex and Concord, a widely-used programme for creating three-dimensional chemical models.
The acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to close in January 2005. Tripos expects the transaction to begin to contribute to operating income in 2005, and become accretive to net income beginning in 2006.
Following the close of the transaction, Dr Pearlman will remain at the University of Texas, but will play an active role as a consultant and scientific advisor to Tripos. Meanwhile, Optive CEO Bryan Koontz will join Tripos' Discovery Informatics
