SYDNEY, Australia ¿ Fresh from a patent win in the German courts, Peptech Ltd. has launched a friendly A$64.5 million (US$40.8 million) share-swap takeover bid for Biotech International, of Perth, Western Australia.

Peptech, of Sydney, will issue its own shares in exchange for Biotech stock, with the company last week offering to swap 8.75 of its own shares for every 10 shares in Biotech.

At Friday¿s closing price of A$0.52 the offer values Biotech¿s shares at A$0.45. At the time the offer was announced it was worth A$0.46, or well above the original Biotech share price of A$0.39. Since then market forces have narrowed the gap between the share price and offer price, with Biotech shares closing at A$0.42 on Friday.

Peptech chief financial officer Dawn Mills said the companies are in different research fields, but there are synergies in the deal as Biotech has more expertise in manufacturing and Peptech more expertise in research and development.

In addition, there will be advantages in having a larger group, including savings in administrative costs.

Peptech¿s main research effort is in implants for controlling fertility in animals, notably horses, but it also recently won a patent fight with European pharmaceutical giant BASF over a product that blocks TNF receptors on cell surfaces as a means of treating rheumatoid arthritis.

The patent fight arose out of research work done by Peptech in the TNF area more than 10 years ago. (See BioWorld International, Nov. 10, 1999.)

Biotech International itself acquired a listed biotech company, Brisbane-based Agen Ltd., in the middle of last year. Among other activities, it makes and sells high-temperature enzymes for use in PCR technology, and is developing a test for detecting blood clots.