Sale of Cellartis to Cellectis

French biotech company Cellectis has announced the signing of the acquisition of Cellartis, a leading Swedish biotechnology firm specialized in stem cell technologies. Danske Bank and DC Advisory Partners acted as advisors to the sellers.

Cellartis AB was founded in 2001 in Göteborg, Sweden, as a university spin-off and has developed a world-leading stem cell platform and products based on human pluripotent stem cells.

Cellectis, which is listed on the NYSE-Euronext Alternext market, has developed a unique genome engineering expertise for a broad range of applications, including agriculture, bioresearch and human therapeutics.

This transaction will combine over ten years of stem cell innovation from Cellartis with world leading genome engineering capabilities from Cellectis. The new organization will be uniquely placed to deliver truly innovative products and services, aiming towards cutting edge drug discovery and toxicology platforms as well as regenerative medicine applications.

Cellartis' acquisition is realized through a cash and Cellectis shares payment. In order to finance the cash component of the acquisition of Cellartis and to accelerate the development of its other businesses, Cellectis will raise €50 million from the FSI and Pierre Bastid, a French industrialist and former Chairman and CEO of Converteam.