Azenta, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZTA) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Barkey Holding GmbH and its subsidiaries, a leading provider of controlled rate thawing devices to medical, biotech and pharma industries. Barkey is headquartered in Leopoldshöhe, Germany.
Barkey has over four decades of expertise in the automated thawing of plasma, blood and stem cells and has more recently focused on cell and gene therapy (CGT) applications. Its key product lines are used for controlled rate thawing of cryopreserved samples and therapies. These products are used in R&D, clinical trials, GMP manufacturing and in hospitals. Barkey’s plasmatherm product is an automated cell thawing device approved by the FDA as a medical device for clinical use.
Steve Schwartz, President and CEO of Azenta, commented, “Barkey will add innovative products and capabilities that extend our extensive cold chain of condition portfolio of products and services, while also expanding our customer reach in the fast-growing CGT space, with more than 100 CGT customers to date. The controlled rate thawing of cryopreserved products to maximize reproducibility and viability of the sample is a natural extension of our advanced cryogenic offerings.”
The total cash purchase price for the acquisition will be approximately €80 million. The transaction is expected to close in early July upon satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Co-owners Chris Barkey and Thomas Barkey, and COO Armin Nowack, who have led the company for over 20 years, will join Azenta and continue to lead the business as part of the Life Sciences Products segment. Barkey generated approximately €17 million in revenue over the last twelve months ending March 31st. The company expects the acquisition to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings immediately and to become accretive to GAAP-based earnings within the first year of ownership.
Azenta, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZTA) is a leading provider of life sciences solutions worldwide, enabling impactful breakthroughs and therapies to market faster. Azenta provides a full suite of reliable cold-chain sample management solutions and genomic services across areas such as drug development, clinical research and advanced cell therapies for the industry’s top pharmaceutical, biotech, academic and healthcare institutions globally. As of December 1st, the company changed its name and ticker to Azenta, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZTA) from Brooks Automation, Inc, (Nasdaq: BRKS).
Azenta is headquartered in Chelmsford, MA, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.azenta.com.
