Roche Acquires Arius Research

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., through a wholly owned subsidiary, completed its acquisition of Arius Research Inc. on September 23, 2008.

Roche acquired all of the securities of Arius pursuant to a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) for cash consideration of approximately $192 million. Securityholders received $2.44 per common share, $1.44 per Class F Warrant and $1.78 per Class G Warrant. Roche is one of the world's leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Arius is the developer of a proprietary antibody platform called FunctionFIRST™, which rapidly identifies and selects antibodies based on their functional ability to affect disease before progressing into clinical development.

Roche was represented by Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP with a team led by William Vanveen (litigation and competition) that included Derek Keay and Alex Kilgour (corporate and securities), Melanie Polowin (employment) and Judy Erratt (patents), all in Ottawa, and Mark Madras and Ian Richler (environmental) in Toronto.

Arius was represented by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP with a team led by Louis-François Hogue that included Frédéric Boucher, Gabriel Castiglio, Nicolas Morin, Judy Kremer (corporate and securities) and Gilles Carli (tax) in Montréal and Aaron Atkinson (corporate and securities), Samuel R. Rickett (litigation) and Tony Baldanza (competition) in Toronto.

Great White North Holdings SRL (an indirect subsidiary of OrbiMed Advisors, LLC), Xmark Opportunity Partners, LLC, and Efficacy Capital, Ltd., principal securityholders in ARIUS, were represented by Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team that included Pierre-Yves Leduc and Christine Legé.

Lawyer(s)

Nicolas Morin Ian Richler Judy Erratt Aaron Atkinson Gabriel Castiglio Frédéric Boucher Gilles Carli Pierre-Yves Leduc Alex J. Kilgour Louis-François Hogue William L. Vanveen Derek S. Keay Melanie A. Polowin Samuel R. Rickett Mark L. Madras Anthony F. Baldanza Judy Kremer