Smart & Biggar advised PeriGen Inc. (“PeriGen”) during the acquisition by Halma defending the patent portfolio value and providing expert counsel and IP Due Diligence, with a team led by: Brigide Mattar, partner, engineer and patent agent, and Christian Bolduc, partner, lawyer and trademark agent.
PeriGen, a market leader in applying artificial intelligence (AI) to improve safety in childbirth, was acquired by Halma plc, a FTSE 100 global group of life-saving technology companies in a deal valued at US$58M that was completed on April 27th, 2020.
PeriGen has unique technology that helps protect mothers and their unborn babies by using proprietary AI tools to continuously monitor labouring patients to identify and highlight troubling trends over the course of labour. Led by CEO Matthew Sappern, PeriGen’s software currently runs at hundreds of facilities in North America, including academic medical centers, community hospitals and rural care centres. Perigen is based in North Carolina and has research facilities in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) and Israel.
Based in the UK, Halma’s group of companies provides innovative solutions focused on creating a safer, cleaner and healthier future. In joining Halma, PeriGen gains access to a supportive network and additional resources as PeriGen continues to expand its perinatal safety technology throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Smart & Biggar has been PeriGen’s primary IP advisor for over a decade, working closely with its management team to develop a strong IP strategy, and to execute that strategy to secure a robust portfolio of commercially relevant patents.
“Smart & Biggar has been with us throughout our journey”, says Dr. Emily Hamilton, Senior VP Clinical Research at PeriGen “taking the time to explain things, helping design and adjust our patent strategy as the business evolved and preparing us to answer questions during due diligence. During the transaction, we were able to rely on the guidance and expertise of this team, having confidence they understood both our business and our patent portfolio, which facilitated many aspects of the process”.
IP Due Diligence is a specialized service offering provided to IP-rich companies as part of the
IP Strategic Advisory practice at Smart & Biggar, through which our expert IP lawyers and patent agents work with SMEs to advise them on all IP aspects of due diligence in transactions.