"The acquisition of ComGenex ... creates an immediate presence in Europe in an EU member state with a significantly lower cost structure than Western European countries, while maintaining access to a comparable talent pool not only in Hungary, but all of Europe and neighboring regions. ComGenex [also] broadens AMRI's customer base and gives us immediate relationships or access to pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers in England and the European continent," AMRI chairman and CEO Thomas E. D'Ambra commented in a statement.
ComGenex is a provider of contract chemistry services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Its services mainly include computational chemistry and chemical genomics, whereby the company builds libraries of unique molecules with drug-like characteristics, which are then sold to pharmaceutical companies for further research or clinical trials.
ComGenex recorded revenues of USD 8.5 mln last year, and has more than 200 partners worldwide, mainly in the EU, North America and Japan. The company was until now held by private investors, who briefly entertained plans to float the company on the Budapest Stock Exchange in 2003 but later decided against a public listing. ComGenex currently has 119 employees.
AMRI is a global drug discovery company providing chemistry services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and has annual revenues of USD 150 mln. The company currently has manufacturing and R&D locations in the US, Singapore and India, and hopes to use its newly created presence in Budapest to strengthen its position in Europe.
