Caliper Sells Animal Services Business
Caliper’s revenue for the Xenogen business was $11.2 million in 2008. The sale improves Caliper’s cash flow and provides for expanded sales of its LPTA models and IVIS systems. Taconic will be the exclusive provider of Caliper’s existing LPTA models. Caliper stated on a conference call that it is still considering the divestment of additional noncore assets. Caliper is targeting positive EBITDA and operating cash flow for 2009 and forecasts positive EBITDA for 2010.
Hopkinton, MA 12/14/09; Hudson, NY 12/14/09—Caliper Life Sciences has sold its Xenogen Biosciences subsidiary to lab rodent provider Taconic Farms for $11 million. Xenogen provides in vivo preclinical CRO services, 90% of which relate to animal production and phenotyping services. Caliper stated that the business is not essential to its IVIS instrumentation business. “This sale further improves our balance sheet and will enable us to drive greater investment in our IVIS imaging business,” stated Kevin Hrusovsky, president and CEO of Caliper. As a result of the sale, Caliper expects to receive $9 million in cash in the fourth quarter. Under a strategic partnership and licensing agreement, Taconic will exclusively distribute Caliper’s Light Producing Transgenic Animal (LPTA) models for use with Caliper’s IVIS optical imaging systems and will obtain rights to perform imaging services under Caliper’s patent estate in the field. Taconic will also be able to create new mouse models for in vivo imaging applications for use by IVIS instrument customers.
