BBI to be floated on London Stock Exchange

BBI Diagnostics Group has announced it will be floated on the London Stock Exchange. The parent company, Massachusetts-based Alere, intends to use the floatation to sell off 25% of its stock in order to pay down outstanding debt and focus on core business.

Shares are being offered to institutional investors but the pricing of the offer has not been confirmed. The company had a revenue of £89.6m ($150m) for the 2013 financial year, up 19.7% on the previous 12 months. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation came in at £26.7m ($45m).

The Scottish base of the Cardiff-headquartered BBI include the former labs of Axis-Shield Diagnostics, where the company focuses on a range of health conditions including cardiovascular ailments and diabetes. 200 of the company’s 600 total staff are located there.

The listing comes three years after Alere acquired Axis-Shield for £235m ($396m) following a prolonged takeover tussle. Axis-Shield at that time had joint headquarters in Dundee and Oslo, having been formed from the 1999 merger of Norway’s Axis Biochemicals and Dundee University spin-out Shield Diagnostics.

Lyn Rees, chief executive of BBI, said: “This listing will be a major strategic step for BBI Diagnostics. As an independent public company, we believe we will be in an even stronger position to strengthen and leverage our relationships with customers, develop and commercialise new products and services, and expand our geographic presence.”