Optos in £25m deal for US firm

EYE scanner maker Optos yesterday swooped to buy the instruments division of US drug company Opko in a deal that could be worth up to $38 million (£25m).

The Dunfermline-based firm will pay Opko $17.5m up front and then royalties in two years’ time. If sales grow dramatically from the present $8.4m to $450m then the royalty payment could be as high as $22.5m.

By comparison, Optos’ sales this year are expected to be around $130m. Roy Davis, Optos’ chief executive, told The Scotsman that Opko’s products would be sold through his firm’s 60-strong sales force in the US, compared to the two sales staff employed by Opko.

He said he has no plans to change its current setup, with 36 staff in Miami and four on the University of Kent’s campus at Canterbury.

But Davis added: “I’ve been looking for a company like Opko for some time now. Taking its expertise in ‘optical coherence tomography’ and building that into a future version of our wide-field imaging equipment would create a dream machine. I’m very excited about the deal.”

The takeover was funded by a $30m credit facility from Lloyds.

Analysts welcomed the deal, with Julie Simmonds at Collins Stewart noting: “The big gains from this acquisition will be on the launch of the combined device, likely more than three years away.”