CINCINNATI, Sep 16, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Meridian Bioscience, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
(NASDAQ:VIVO) today announced that it has priced a public offering of
3,300,000 shares of common stock at $17.50 per share. Of the total
number of shares, 1,800,000 shares are being offered by the Company,
and 1,500,000 shares are being offered by The William J. Motto
Irrevocable Family Trust. Mr. Motto is the Company's Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer. The shares are being offered pursuant to a
shelf registration statement that was previously filed with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Company will receive approximately $29,600,000 in net proceeds
from the sale of its shares in the offering, after deducting
underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated expenses of the
offering. The Company expects to use the net proceeds received by it
from the offering for general corporate purposes, including funding
potential future acquisitions. The Company will not receive any of the
proceeds from the shares offered by The William J. Motto Irrevocable
Family Trust.
Robert W. Baird & Co. acted as sole manager of the offering. The
public offering of the shares is expected to close on September 21,
2005.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. The offering is being
made only by means of a prospectus supplement, a copy of which may be
obtained from the offices of Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, 777
East Wisconsin Avenue, 28th Floor, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-5391. An
electronic copy of the prospectus supplement will be available on the
Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a
safe harbor from civil litigation for forward-looking statements
accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements. Except for historical
information, this report contains forward-looking statements which may
be identified by words such as "estimates", "anticipates", "projects",
"plans", "seeks", "may", "will", "expects", "intends", "believes",
"should" and similar expressions or the negative versions thereof and
which also may be identified by their context. Such statements are
based upon current expectations of the Company and speak only as of
the date made. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update
any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to
various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual
results to differ, including, without limitation, the following:
Meridian's continued growth depends, in part, on its ability to
introduce into the marketplace enhancements of existing products or
new products that incorporate technological advances, meet customer
requirements and respond to products developed by Meridian's
competition. While Meridian has introduced a number of internally
developed products, there can be no assurance that it will be
successful in the future in introducing such products on a timely
basis. Ongoing consolidations of reference laboratories and formation
of multi-hospital alliances may cause adverse changes to pricing and
distribution. Costs and difficulties in complying with laws and
regulations administered by the United States Food and Drug
Administration can result in unanticipated expenses and delays and
interruptions to the sale of new and existing products. Changes in the
relative strength or weakness of the U.S. dollar can change expected
results. One of Meridian's main growth strategies is the acquisition
of companies and product lines. There can be no assurance that
additional acquisitions will be consummated or that, if consummated,
will be successful and the acquired businesses successfully integrated
into Meridian's operations.
Meridian is a fully integrated life science company that
manufactures, markets and distributes a broad range of innovative
diagnostic test kits, purified reagents and related products and
offers biopharmaceutical enabling technologies. Utilizing a variety of
methods, these products provide accuracy, simplicity and speed in the
early diagnosis and treatment of common medical conditions, such as
gastrointestinal, viral, and respiratory infections. Meridian
diagnostic products are used outside of the human body and require
little or no special equipment. The Company's products are designed to
enhance patient well-being while reducing the total outcome costs of
healthcare. Meridian has strong market positions in the areas of
gastrointestinal and upper respiratory infections, serology,
parasitology and fungal disease diagnosis. In addition, Meridian is a
supplier of rare reagents and specialty biologicals along with
proteins and other biologicals used by biopharmaceutical companies
engaged in research for new drugs and vaccines. The Company markets
its products to hospitals, reference laboratories, research centers,
veterinary testing centers, physician offices and diagnostics
manufacturers in more than 60 countries around the world. The
Company's shares are traded through Nasdaq's National Market, symbol
VIVO. Meridian's website address is www.meridianbioscience.com.
SOURCE: Meridian Bioscience, Inc.
Meridian Bioscience, Inc.
John A. Kraeutler, 513-271-3700
