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Enzo Biochem (ENZ) (~$65MM market cap) in July 2023, closed on the sale of their medical laboratory division to Labcorp (LH) leaving their subscale however rising Enzo Life Sciences (“ELS”) division and a slug of money on the RemainCo. Rhyming with different comparable setups (most lately PFSW), the corporate is probably going dressing up the ELS division on the market to finish the two-step liquidation of the corporate. The ELS phase makes merchandise (picks and shovels for biotechs) for drug improvement and medical analysis, it does about $32MM in gross sales yearly making it an after-thought within the massive however mid-to-high single digit rising trade. Right now ELS is roughly breakeven earlier than company overhead, whereas that ought to enhance, after company overhead, ENZ as a complete, is burning money and has little motive to exist.
Comparables of comparable dimension (most are worthwhile mid-large caps) are a bit arduous to come back by for the ELS phase (there may be apparent ones that I am lacking, in that case, please level them out within the feedback), however they do personal the actual property for the enterprise (about 56,000 sq. toes of producing/analysis area in Farmingdale, NY), simply throwing a fundamental 1x TTM income a number of on the ELS enterprise itself and including the PPE, will get me a few worth of $45MM for the remaining enterprise. Including within the present NCAV and accounting for additional money burn, I get a proforma worth of roughly $1.75/share.
In a bullish situation, perhaps they’ll get upward of 2x income for the ELS phase and it might be a close to double from present costs. This is not a novel concept, however as I’ve stated earlier than, I feel buyers are typically impatient with these setups, it takes longer than buyers would suppose to unwind the operations of segments that on the floor look separate. As we come up on the primary anniversary of the medical labs sale, a second asset sale within the subsequent quarter or two is a extra affordable timeline.
Different random ideas:
- Enzo’s former medical laboratory phase was topic to a ransomware assault final Could previous to the shut of their take care of Labcorp, a lot of delicate info was stolen together with a number of hundred thousand social safety numbers. Enzo is dealing with some lawsuits, however hasn’t offered any estimated legal responsibility at this level.
- Enzo stopped doing earnings calls after the asset sale announcement, they have not returned to conducting earnings calls, pointing to their present construction not being the long run mannequin going ahead.
- Steven Pully is the brand new Chairman of the Board, he is a accomplice/co-founder of Speyside Companions, an advisory store that focuses on companies in transition, he is served on 29 boards, together with a number of that ended up pseudo liquidating, much like ENZ’s presumed path.
- What is the “ADES danger” right here? Stated in any other case, what is the danger the corporate might be a purchaser somewhat than a vendor? I feel that is unlikely for the reason that board and shareholder registry is full of worth and activist buyers who’ve proven up within the final two years, usually are not emotionally tied to the enterprise like a former founder or CEO.
- Bradley Radoff, a non-public investor, owns 8+% of the inventory and is on the board of administrators.
- CEO Kara Cannon was beforehand the COO, after the previous CEO stepped down 9/6 she took on the interim CEO title that was later graduated to the everlasting CEO. Her contract can pay her a 0.75% Transaction Bonus on the any sale incentivizing her to associate with the two-step liquidation technique.
Disclosure: I personal shares of ENZ
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