BioLife SolutionsInc., a developer and supplier of bioproduction tools for cell and gene therapies, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SciSafe, a privately held multi-facility provider of biological materials storage to the cell and gene therapy and pharmaceutical industries. The transaction is expected to close on September 30.
 
Under the terms of the agreement, BioLife will pay $15 million in cash and $15 million in newly issued shares of BioLife common stock for 100% of the outstanding shares of SciSafe. SciSafe’s shareholders are also eligible over the next four years to receive up to 626,000 additional shares of BioLife common stock based on the achievement of annual revenue milestones.
 
SciSafe had 2019 unaudited revenue of $6 million and positive EBITDA and is anticipated to be accretive during 2021.
 
“This acquisition enables BioLife to offer even more value to our cell and gene therapy customers through an established business with an excellent reputation, marquee customers and seasoned team. Through SciSafe, we are accelerating profitable growth by expanding into the high growth biostorage segment with a robust quality system, a scalable business model and strong financial performance. We anticipate several vertical integration cost synergies including using SciSafe facilities for cGMP storage of our biopreservation media products, leveraging our CBS facility to manufacture walk-in freezer rooms for SciSafe and deploying our evo Smart Shippers and evoIS cloud app for the thousands of annual inbound and outbound biologic materials shipments managed by SciSafe,” commented Mike Rice, chief executive officer of BioLife Solutions.
 
Garrie Richardson, president of SciSafe, added, “I’m thrilled to be joining forces with BioLife. With BioLife’s stellar reputation in the cell and gene therapy market, key customer relationships, financial resources and commitment to fund our growth, the SciSafe team is poised to deliver significant high-margin incremental revenue to BioLife’s growing enterprise.”