Osborne Clarke has advised the shareholders of Tocris Holdings Limited, a leading supplier of reagents for non-clinical life science research, on the sale of Tocris Holdings Limited (Tocris) to NASDAQ quoted TECHNE Corporation (Techne) for £75 million.

Tocris’ products are used to understand biological processes and diseases. The products are used in life-science research activities and as part of the initial drug discovery process.

Techne, through its subsidiaries, R&D Systems, Inc. and R&D Systems Europe, Ltd., is a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of purified cytokines (proteins), antibodies and assay kits which are sold to biomedical researchers and clinical research laboratories.

The acquisition will enhance and supplement R&D Systems’ product offering and will augment its ability to serve research scientists. The management team and employees of Tocris will continue to run product development, marketing and sales activities from it base in Bristol.

David Ferris, partner, Osborne Clarke, said:

“Tocris is an extremely well-run company and will be an excellent addition to Techne’s existing operations. We were very pleased to work with the Tocris management and shareholder team and Momentum to ensure that the deal went smoothly.

“The life sciences sector is a particularly exciting place at the moment. This is our sixth life sciences deal of 2011, which demonstrates how the sector is bouncing back from the recession.”

The Osborne Clarke team was led by corporate partner David Ferris and included senior associate Richard Craven and tax partner Michael Bell. The investment banking advisors to Tocris were Momentum Corporate Finance LLP. Techne was advised by Cobbetts and Fredrikson & Byron P.A..