06/09/2013 Centaur Animal Health seeking acquisitions and

licensing arrangements; considering funding options,

new CEO says

Proprietary Intelligence

Story Centaur Animal Health, the private, Kansas City, Kansas-based

life sciences company focused on animal health, is looking for acquisitions and licensing opportunities in its main focus areas, said

Jeffrey Boily, CEO.

Boily, who joined Centaur at the beginning of this month, replaces

former CEO Mark Metrokotsas who has become the chairman of

Centaur’s board. Boily was brought on board to help the company “embark on its next phase of growth” and will be involved in finding

acquisition targets and licensing opportunities, and looking at

funding options to finance these new initiatives.

Centaur Animal Health focuses on pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and nutrition products for the equine, large animal (animals raised for

food), and companion animal markets. The company also engages

in contract manufacturing at its manufacturing facility, which is FDA

and USDA certified.

The company, which has a history of licensing products and doesn’t do “its own discovery research,” is aggressively seeking acquisitions

of companies that have products in its main areas of focus, chiefly

in areas with an “unmet need." Centaur is particularly keen on

diagnostic and pharmaceutical products, the CEO said.

Ideal target companies should have revenues and generate free

cash flow. However, Centaur will also consider “strategic”

acquisitions that are pre-revenue if the target company has great

technology, robust IP, and presents a great business opportunity in their niche market, Boily said. Centaur will also consider licensing

partnerships to add new products to its portfolio.

Additionally, the company is seeking to enter the key overseas

markets of Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union, so

target companies located in those areas, as well as in the US and Canada are of interest, Boily said. Size range for acquisition targets

is anything up to USD 20m. Depending upon the size of the

acquisition Centaur will either finance buys internally or raise additional funds, said Boily, noting that he has expertise in raising

capital.

Centaur is looking on its own to find target companies but is also

willing to work with investment bankers with expertise in the animal

health industry.

The company is now actively looking at potential equity funding

options for acquisitions and to accelerate organic growth, and

welcomes approaches, Boily said. The amount of the new funding

has not yet been determined. He noted that Pfizer’s IPO spin-out last year of its animal health division Zoetis, which now has a

market cap of USD 15.16bn, and Aratana’s IPO in June, have

raised interest in animal health by the investment community.

Boily declined to disclose annual revenues but he did say that equine products make up about 32% of revenues, large animal

products about 56%, and small animal products make up the rest.

The company sells its products through distributors.

Centaur, which was founded in 1986 and merged with United

Agriculture and Veterinary Products (Unavet) in 2001, has about 200 individual shareholders, but has not received any venture

capital so far.

The company recently opened an office in Philadelphia, where Boily

is based, to have access to the investment opportunities and animal

health research centers on the East Coast.

Boily is also the non-executive chairman of ProteaPex Therapeutics

which develops animal health products. He was most recently the

CEO of the Center for Animal Health and Innovation, and was also

the CEO of BioWizard.

by Ilene Friedland