Geneart AG becomes part of US Life Technologies Corporation
In the press release of 09 April 2010, the Regensburg company announced that the Geneart AG company founders Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner, Prof. Dr. Hans Wolf and Dr. Marcus Graf, individual members of the management and of both venture capital societies EquiNet EarlyStage Capital and S-Refit AG, had sealed contracts regarding the sale of their Geneart shares with Applied Biosystems. Applied Biosystems Deutschland GmbH holds around 58 % of Geneart AG shares and plans to put in a voluntary public takeover bid for the remaining Geneart shares totalling approximately 42 %. The process has made this successful model company in the Regensburg BioPark a part of Life Technologies Corporation.
”From start-up teams to world concerns” – this was the title in the newspaper “Mittelbayerische Zeitung” in its 10 April 2010 edition, right on the nose describing the result of the preceding six months of sales negotiations. Following its foundation from Regensburg University in 1999 with 8 employees occupying 250 m2, Geneart was one of the first leaseholders in Regensburg BioPark I and since this point has regularly featured in TOP News in the German biotechnology scene. Its attempts secured the young “spin off” company 3rd place in the Business Plan Competition North Bavaria 2000 with its business idea – the tailored manufacture of synthetics genes for the development of vaccines. In the same year the company received sought after financial support from the Ministry for Education and Research via the bmbf BioChance Program. In 2002 the young company opened its first office in USA, to achieve presence in the largest biotechnology market in the world.
In 2003 Geneart was the first Regensburg biotech company to receive the Bavarian Foundation Prize and was chosen in 2004 to be amongst the TOP 10 in the competition “Potential Innovation” by the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce and the Financial Times Germany. Listed in 2006 on the Stock Exchange in Frankfurt, Geneart expanded into the new building BioPark II with over 100 employees occupying over 2,000 m2. In the same year the company won a STEP-Award, a prize from the F.A.Z. Institute for outstanding high-growth companies. In 2007 the company was chosen for the third time in a row as one of the TOP 30 fastest growing technology companies in Germany and doubled its floor space and employees in 2008 through the construction of a second location in the Regensburg Business Park. In the same year the company received the European Biotechnica Award.
Now the company is becoming American. According to Managing Director Prof. Ralf Wagner, this is a logical step allowing further growth under the roof of a large biotech company. As a part of the US concern Life Technologies, it will now be possible to make a further leap in quality to the next technological level. The Savings Bank Investment Company S-Refit located in Regensburg can also be pleased, having been able to release six million € through sale of the shares. Now this can once again be invested in innovative companies in the region. The management of Geneart will initially remain unchanged; a representative of the US concern will accompany integration on-site. In accordance with initial data, Life Technologies together with Geneart wishes to activate further investment into research and development and it is intended that Regensburg be expanded into a centre for synthetic biology - in other words Geneart is continuing to grow.
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