Portage Biotech to acquire British I-O company

Shares in SalvaRx Group (LSE: SALV) soared as much as 40.65 pence to 85.25 pence on Tuesday after the company said it has entered into a sale agreement for the disposal of its 94.2% stake in SalvaRx Limited to Canada-based Portage Biotech(CSE: PBT.U).

Subject to regulatory and shareholder consent, Portage said it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of SalvaRx Limited. Under the terms of a sale and purchase agreement dated August 13, 2018, the company has agreed to issue 805,070,067 common shares at a deemed price of approximately $0.089 per share to the vendors for an aggregate acquisition cost of $ 71.70 million. Immediately after closing, SalvaRx Group will distribute around 87% of the consideration shares to its shareholders by way of a dividend in kind.

Declan Doogan, chief executive of Portage, remarked: "Since we completed the distribution of Biohaven shares, we have been looking for other exciting undervalued opportunities with near term inflection points. The acquisition of SalvaRx Limited represents the next evolution of Portage as we acquire interest in 10 products in the exciting area of immuno-oncology led by a top class team. Portage is now poised to advance several products to clinical proof of concept and hopefully take advantage of strong capital markets and increased levels of pharma mergers and acquisitions to bring yet more returns to our shareholders."