Benzinga | Jun 1, 2021 12:22PM EDT

Veracyte Strengthens Cancer Diagnostics Portfolio with HalioDx Acquisition

* Veracyte Inc (NASDAQ:VCYT) has agreed to acquire HalioDx in a (euro)260 million transaction to accelerate growth and strengthen its position in cancer diagnostics.

* The deal value consists of approximately (euro)147 million in cash and approximately (euro)113 million in stock.

* "We believe HalioDx will help fuel our global growth by accelerating IVD test development and manufacturing operations in Europe and by expanding our scientific expertise into the emerging immuno-oncology field. Additionally, their commercial-stage colon cancer immune response test will broaden our testing menu to 8 of the top 10 cancers," said Bonnie Anderson, Veracyte's executive chairwoman.

* Veracyte plans to transition manufacturing of the kits, currently produced by NanoString, to HalioDx's manufacturing facility in Marseille, France.

* The transaction is expected to close in the third fiscal quarter of 2021.

* Veracyte expects the acquisition of HalioDx to be accretive to its revenue growth in 2021 and be strategically accretive to its gross margins once it transitions manufacturing of test kits to HalioDx for use on the nCounter Analysis System.

* Price Action: VCYT shares are down 6.66% at $36.45 during the market session on the last check Tuesday.