William Fry advised Trinity Biotech plc in relation to the sale of its coagulation product line for a profit of over $47 million. Trinity is a NASDAQ listed public limited company operating in the healthcare sector. Its principal activity is the development, manufacture and marketing of diagnostic test kits used in the clinical laboratory and point-of-care diagnostic markets. Trinity’s products are sold in approximately 75 countries by its own sales force and by a network of international distributors and strategic partners.

Over the last 10 years, Trinity has been successfully growing its coagulation product line, both organically and through strategic acquisitions such as the acquisition of Biopool, Ventura, California, USA in December 2001, the acquisition of the coagulation division of Sigma Diagnostics, USA in August 2002, the acquisition of Primus Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri, USA in July 2005 and the acquisition of the coagulation division of bioMerieux, Lyon, France in June 2006.

Trinity announced the completion of the sale of its worldwide diagnostic coagulation business to Stago International S.A.S. in May 2010. The deal represented a significant strategic move for Trinity, enabling it to repay existing bank debt and thus resulting in improved profitability and stronger cash flows for the group going forward. Trinity is now well positioned to change its strategic focus and intends to invest in developing a new range of point of care tests for infectious diseases, HbA1c and coagulation. The transaction involved the sale of Trinity’s subsidiaries in France, Germany and the United Kingdom together with its coagulation assets in Ireland and the United States. William Fry advised Trinity Biotech plc on all aspects of the disposal of its coagulation business, including the anti-trust notifications in Turkey, Australia and Brazil and its obligations under the Transfer of Employees (Protection of Employees) Regulations 2006.