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.

1. 06/09/2013 Centaur Animal Health seeking acquisitions and
licensing arrangements; considering funding options,
new CEO says
Proprietary Intelligence
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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

2. 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