Twist Bioscience has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Abveris (formally known as AbX Biologics, Inc.), an in vivo antibody discovery services company developing the next generation of biologics, cell therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics in partnership with global biopharma leaders.
Abveris, which is to be acquired for up to $190 million, offers antibody discovery and characterization services using its DiversimAb™ family of hyperimmune mouse models.
“The addition of the Abveris discovery platform is a natural fit with Twist as it will complement and extend our biopharma antibody capabilities into mouse-based discovery and screening,” said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience.
“There are three key approaches to antibody discovery: synthetic libraries, which is the specialty of Twist; in vivo discovery through animal models; and artificial intelligence models. With the anticipated acquisition of Abveris, Twist will have expertise in each, creating a robust antibody design, discovery and screening organization to serve both our partners and our internal pipeline.”
“We look forward to integrating our proprietary in vivo discovery platform with the Twist lead optimization workflow to consolidate and streamline the process of identifying the highest quality development ready drug candidates for our partners,” said Tracey Mullen, CEO of Abveris.
“By combining the two highly synergistic approaches, Twist will be able to pair natural, in vivo antibody development with its industry-leading humanization and engineering capabilities to introduce a new gold standard in antibody discovery. We are thrilled to play an integral role in this revolution.”
The total purchase consideration of up to $190 million includes $150 million in consideration to be issued at the closing of the transaction, consisting of shares of Twist common stock and up to $10 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments for cash, net working capital, outstanding indebtedness and unpaid transaction expenses, and up to $40 million shares of Twist common stock, to be issued contingent on and subject to Abveris achieving an internal revenue target for the calendar year 2022.
The applicable price per share of Twist common stock is the average per share closing sale price of Twist common stock for the 30 consecutive trading day period prior to and including the date that is two trading days immediately preceding the closing, and which will not fall below $106.10 or exceed $129.68.
