Pinsent Masons advises Abzena plc on £34m takeover

31 Aug 2018 | 05:00 pm |

International law firm Pinsent Masons is advising Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical services company Abzena plc on its recommended acquisition by a fund set up by US private equity house Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.

Astro Bidco Limited, which is wholly-owned by the WCAS Fund, has offered to pay Abzena shareholders 16p per share. Under the terms of the acquisition, the deal is valued at approximately £34.4 million on a fully diluted basis.

Abzena plc provides proprietary technologies and complementary services to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products. The company offers these services and technologies across sites in Cambridge, UK, San Diego, California, and Bristol, Pennsylvania.

The Pinsent Masons team  is being led by corporate finance partner Charles Waddell, alongside partner Gareth Jones and senior associate Adam Cain, with assistance from solicitor Alice Foster and trainee solicitor Charlie Chetwood. Other members of the team involved  are legal director Suzannah Crookes and solicitor Kate Haywood in incentives, and banking partner Vanessa Heap, senior associate Anais Spacey and solicitor Maliha Abu-Nowar.

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