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• amaxa excellent fit with Lonza Bioscience Cell Discovery business
• Strengthening of both businesses with accelerated growth potential
• In line with Lonza strategy of growing its life-sciences-platform
Basel, 27 May 2008 – Lonza and amaxa jointly announce that Lonza, the leading supplier to the
life sciences industries, acquires amaxa and all its activities. The transaction is financed with
proceeds from recent divestitures. Financial details remain confidential at this time. amaxa is a premium supplier to the cell discovery market with leading edge, proprietary technologies in well defined market niches of transfection systems. The deal will enhance current margins and growth rates of Lonza Bioscience. The transaction is subject to the approval of the anti-trust authorities, which is expected to take place early in Q3 2008.
amaxa will significantly strenghthen the Cell Discovery business of Lonza Bioscience by
complementing and expanding the existing portfolio. amaxa offers high-end nucleic acid
transfection systems and consumables to academic institutions and pharmaceutical and biotechnology businesses. The company provides a leading and unique technology called
Nucleofection, which addresses critical industry needs in Cell Discovery. amaxa’s Nucleofection
technology is a transfection method which enables efficient and reproducible transfer of nucleic acids such as DNA or RNA into cells that are considered difficult or even impossible to transfect.
In addition the acquisition of amaxa will strengthen the R&D platform for Lonza Bioscience, by
tripling the size of the cell discovery R&D group. amaxa’s Cologne site is planned to be a new product development site for the Cell Discovery business of Lonza Bioscience and will
supplement the existing R&D activities of Lonza’s cell discovery business in Walkersville, MD,
USA. With the strong foothold of amaxa in Germany, Lonza gains access to the large Northern
Europe talent pool.
Stefan Borgas, Chief Executive Officer of Lonza, comments: “We are excited to welcome the highly qualified and entrepreneurial amaxa colleagues to join our global business. With this
acquisition Lonza further strengthens its position as a worldwide leader in cell discovery by integrating this unique, proprietary technology into its portfolio and by continuing to develop the actvities in Cologne. We are pleased to be able to offer this technology and product line to our customers. The acquisition of amaxa is in line with our strategy of re-deploying cash from our
divestitures into well defined growth opportunities for our life-sciences-businesses.”
Lonza’s and amaxa’s Cell Discovery business are complementary, serving a similar customer base. While Lonza is the leader in the production of primary cells, amaxa is the leader in the
transfection of primary cells. Customers can now get all their primary cell tools through one
company. Other synergies are expected through the strengthening of the sales force and the integration of amaxa’s administrative and enterprise systems into Lonza’s infrastructure.
Rainer Christine, Chief Executive Officer of amaxa adds: “The integration of our business into
Lonza will help to further expand the use of our unique transfection technology. The reputation and strategic focus of Lonza as a leading supplier to the life sciences industries enables the
broadening of our customer base and will allow further development of the technology and its
applications. Further, the shared spirit of entrepreneurialism, passion, and customer orientation
provide a strong platform for beginning the integration process.”
To ensure that our customers, employees, and shareholders gain the value from this transaction,
an integration process has been developed and a team of fully dedicated employees from both
Lonza and amaxa will be responsible for a systematic implementation.
About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science
industries. Its products and services span its customers’ needs from research to final product
manufacture. Lonza is the global leader in the production and support of active pharmaceutical
ingredients both chemically as well as biotechnologically. Biopharmaceuticals are one of the key growth drivers of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Lonza has strong capabilities in large and small molecules, peptides, amino acids and niche bioproducts which play an important role in the development of novel medicines and healthcare products. Lonza is a leader in cell-based research, endotoxin detection and cell therapy manufacturing. Lonza is also a leading provider of value chemical and biotech ingredients to the nutrition, hygiene, preservation, agro and personal care markets.
Lonza is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. In 2007,
Lonza had sales of CHF 2.87 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.
About amaxa
As a globally active leader in transfection technologies, amaxa is dedicated to enhancing the
speed and quality of basic and pharmaceutical research in gene transfer, gene silencing, and
gene-based medicine. amaxa’s Nucleofector® Technology provides the first efficient non-viral method for the transfer of DNA or siRNA directly into the nucleus of primary cells and hard-to-transfect cell lines. Based on electroporation, Nucleofection® utilizes novel and unique electrical
parameters generated by a special Nucleofector® Device. These are combined with different, cell type specific reagents. amaxa is the worldwide market leader in the segment of primary cell
transfection. Founded in 1998, amaxa is located in Cologne, Germany, and in Gaithersburg, MD, USA, and currently employs 160 people. The company's research team is one of the largest R&D groups working on non-viral gene transfer. For more information please visit www.amaxa.com.
For further Information:
Lonza:
Head Corporate Communications
Janet White
janet.white@lonza.com
Tel +41 61 316 8566
Fax +41 61 316 9566
Media Relations
Dominik Werner
dominik.werner@lonza.com
Tel +41 61 316 8798
Fax +41 61 316 9798
Investor Relations
Alexandre Pasini
alexandre.pasini@lonza.com
Tel +41 61 316 8835
Fax +41 61 316 9835
amaxa:
Constanze Blume
Tel: +49 221 99199-196
Fax: + 49 221 99199-119
constanze.blume@amaxa.com
www.lonza.com
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