Fulcrum Pharma Accepts Takeover Bid

(Reuters) – Fulcrum Pharma Plc (FULB.L) said it accepted a 11.6 million pounds ($17.69 million) takeover bid by a company funded by venture capital group SV Life Sciences and private equity firm Halifax Group, sending its shares up 66.7 percent.

The offer of 5.85 pence in cash for each Fulcrum share is at a 73 percent premium to Fulcrum’s Tuesday close.

The acquirer, Gold Medal UK, was recently incorporated for this offer and is owned by Gold Medal US, which will be controlled by SV Life Sciences and Halifax. “We would like to make a number of identified acquisitions to add critical mass and expand our service offering. We have been unable to achieve the required equity funding from the stock market despite considerable efforts to do so,” Fulcrum’s non-executive Chairman Grahame Cook said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Fulcrum said for the first-half ended Feb. 28, pretax profit rose 158 percent to 315,000 pounds, while revenue was flat at 8.1 million pounds.

Shares of the company were up 66.7 percent at 5.63 pence at 0735 GMT on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6559 Pound) (Reporting by Shivani Singh in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)