Novozymes A/S is following up last month's buyout of a recombinant protein company from Sanofi-Aventis Group with another proposed acquisition, this time making a play for the Australian firm GroPep Ltd., which Novozymes plans to take over in a deal valued at about A$95.5 million (US$72.5 million).

Under the terms, Novozymes, of Bagsvaerd, Denmark (which owns no shares in GroPep), would pay A$2.05 in cash per share for the company, amounting to a premium of 40 percent over the price of GroPep shares the day before the proposal was disclosed, and a 33 percent premium over the past three months.

GroPep's shares (ASX:GRO) closed Monday at A$1.54, up A8 cents. Novozymes (CSE:NZYM) closed Monday at DKK402 (US$68.52).

Novozymes officials could not be reached, but the firm said in a press release that the acquisition is "expected to have very limited impact" financially, and will be funded from existing cash and credit facilities.

With about 46.5 million shares on issue, GroPep makes and sells proteins for cell culture and biomedical research, and Novozymes - billing itself as the world leader in enzymes and microorganisms, with more than 600 products sold in 130 countries - has projects in cell culture, too.

The transaction is pending the approval of GroPep shareholders and option-holders, who will be provided details, along with an independent consultant's report, this fall. Intending to close the deal by the end of the year, Novozymes will register the report with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Stock Exchange.

In July, Novozymes bought Delta Biotechnology Ltd., of Nottingham, UK, from Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis. Delta develops and manufactures recombinant protein products using engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains, and licenses its yeast-based expression system to pharmaceutical, health care and biotech partners. The firm has one commercialized product, Recombumin, the first and only animal-free recombinant human albumin. Adelaide, Australia-based GroPep's main product, the growth factor Long-R3-IGF-1, is the only recombinant IGF-1 for cell culture ingredients on the market and brings in most of the company's sales revenue. With the takeover, Novozymes would get a broadened portfolio and cell-culture expertise, but fermentation expert GroPep also is working in drug development.

At the Phase I stage, the company has PV903 vaginal gel for preventing miscarriage in women with an abnormal immunological response to paternal antigens present on fetal tissues. About half of all miscarriages are blamed on that response, which treats the embryo as a foreign body. GroPep, with 80 employees, spends about 20 percent of its revenue on research and development.

Novozymes started as part of Novo Nordisk A/S, and went public on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in 2000 as an industrial enzyme business. Last month, the firm entered a three-year collaboration with China Resources Alcohol Corp. to conduct research into processes for producing cellulosic-based ethanolin China.

The firm also has an exclusive agreement with Atlanta-based Serologicals Corp. to develop animal-free recombinant human albumin for cell culture media formulations. Novozymes is manufacturing r-Probumin AF using its Aspergillus fermentation platform.