UNION CITY, Calif.,
March 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Abaxis, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ABAX), a medical products company
manufacturing point-of-care blood analysis systems, and VCA Inc.
(NasdaqGS: WOOF), a leading animal healthcare company in
the United States and Canada, today jointly announced Antech
Diagnostics, Inc., VCA's laboratory division, has agreed to acquire
the assets of AVRL (Abaxis Veterinary Reference Laboratory) from
Abaxis for $21 million in
cash. The parties anticipate the transaction will close by the
end of March. Abaxis, Inc. estimates that this activity will result
in total pre-tax charges of approximately $10.0 to $12.0 million. This includes cash
payments for employee-related costs, including costs for severance,
contract termination and other associated costs, and a non-cash
charge for the impairment of assets and other assets.
Through the sale of AVRL to Antech Diagnostics, Abaxis will be
able to increase its focus on its core product offerings and
bolster its co-marketing relationship with Antech
Diagnostics. Representatives from Abaxis and Antech
Diagnostics will continue to work together, in conjunction with our
distribution partners, to market a complete diagnostic solution
consisting of Abaxis point-of-care diagnostic products and Antech
Diagnostic's reference lab services.
Clint Severson, Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Abaxis, said, "AVRL was an
exciting venture for Abaxis, and we are pleased that we had the
opportunity to enter the reference lab market. We are proud of
our accomplishments with AVRL, and we thank the many loyal
customers that used our service. This transaction will allow
us to return our focus to our state of the art point-of-care
analyzers and with our Antech relationship, now enhanced by
distribution, to offer a complete laboratory solution to customers.
Antech has a national network of laboratories and a strong
technology platform and we believe our customers will be well
served."
Dr. Craig Tockman, Vice President
of Sales and Marketing added, "The Abaxis – Antech co-marketing
relationship has proven to be extremely effective for both
companies, particularly in larger competitive accounts. Over the
past year, and with the recent significant changes in the
veterinary distribution landscape, this transaction strengthens the
excellent partnership we have established by combining our joint
marketing efforts with the relationships and capabilities of our
distributors. Antech provides superior reference lab
proximity and service, and we are proud to be their partner."
Josh Drake, President of Antech
commented, "We see great benefit in the relationship between two
demonstrated leaders in veterinary diagnostics and this only
strengthens the respective sales and marketing capabilities of
Antech Diagnostics and Abaxis. We are confident that this
relationship will further the goals of both companies in providing
a complete diagnostic solution offered through our extensive
distribution partners to the veterinary community. Abaxis has
proven to be a great partner for us and we look forward to working
with Abaxis for many years to come."
About Abaxis
Abaxis develops, manufactures, markets and sells portable blood
analysis systems for use in any veterinary or human patient-care
setting to provide clinicians with rapid blood constituent
measurements. The system consists of a compact, 5.1 kilogram
(11.2 pounds), portable analyzer and a series of single-use plastic
discs, called reagent discs, which contain all the chemicals
required to perform a panel of up to 13 tests on veterinary
patients and 14 tests on human patients. The system can be
operated with minimal training and performs multiple routine tests
on whole blood, serum or plasma samples. The system provides
test results in less than 12 minutes with the precision and
accuracy equivalent to a clinical laboratory analyzer. The
veterinary business also provides to the animal health and research
market a line of hematology instruments for point-of-care complete
blood counts (CBC), a specialty instrument to screen for and detect
clotting disorders and to measure equine fibrinogen levels, a
handheld instrument for the rapid assessment of certain critical
care tests and rapid point-of-care tests for Heartworm infections,
Parvovirus, Giardia, Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, and
FeLV-FIV. For more information, visit
http://www.abaxis.com.
About VCA/Antech Diagnostics
VCA owns, operates and manages the largest networks of
freestanding veterinary hospitals and veterinary-exclusive clinical
laboratories in the country, is the largest provider of online
communication, professional education and marketing solutions to
the veterinary community, and supplies diagnostic imaging equipment
to the veterinary industry. For further information on VCA,
visit its website at www.vca.com.
Antech Diagnostic services more than 16,000 animal hospitals
throughout North America through
its network of more than 50 reference laboratories in the United States and Canada. Antech
Diagnostic offers over 300 different tests in chemistry, pathology,
endocrinology, serology, hematology, and microbiology and provides
its clients with expert telemedicine with access to more than 400
board-certified specialists 24/7. For further information on
Antech Diagnostics, visit its website at
www.antechdiagnostics.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release includes, and our conference call will
include, statements that constitute "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 (the "Reform Act"), including but not limited to statements
related to the closing and timing of closing of the transaction,
Abaxis' cash position, financial resources and potential for future
growth, market acceptance and penetration of new or planned product
offerings, and future recurring revenues and results of
operations. Abaxis claims the protection of the safe-harbor
for forward-looking statements contained in the Reform Act.
These forward-looking statements are often characterized by the
terms "may," "believes," "projects," "expects," "anticipates," or
words of similar import, and do not reflect historical facts.
Specific forward-looking statements contained in this press release
or in Abaxis' conference call may be affected by risks and
uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those related to
risks related to the transition of its U.S. medical sales to
Abbott, potential excess inventory levels and inventory imbalances
at the company's distributors, losses or system failures with
respect to Abaxis' facilities or manufacturing operations,
fluctuations in quarterly operating results, dependence on sole
suppliers, the market acceptance of Abaxis' products and services,
the continuing development of its products, required United States
Food and Drug Administration clearance and other government
approvals, risks associated with manufacturing and distributing its
products on a commercial scale free of defects, risks related to
the introduction of new instruments manufactured by third parties,
risks associated with competing in the human diagnostic market,
risks related to the protection of Abaxis' intellectual property or
claims of infringement of intellectual property asserted by third
parties and risks related to condition of the United States economy. Readers should
also refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Abaxis' annual
report on Form 10-K, recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and
Abaxis' other periodic reports filed with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date the statements were
made. Abaxis does not undertake and specifically disclaims any
obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Contact:
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Abaxis
Inc.
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VCA Inc.
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Ross
Taylor
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Tom Fuller
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Vice President,
Business Development
& Investor Relations
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Chief Financial
Officer and Vice President
310-571-6500
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510-675-6500
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Lytham Partners,
LLC
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Joe Dorame, Robert
Blum and Joe Diaz
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602-889-9700
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SOURCE Abaxis, Inc.