BTG has agreed to buy Protherics for some £218 million, further consolidating the UK’s biotech sector. The deal will create Britain’s largest biotech company, which is expected to enter the FTSE 250.

BTG has agreed to buy Protherics for some £218 million, further consolidating the UK’s biotech sector. The deal will create Britain’s largest biotech company, which is expected to enter the FTSE 250.

Louise Makin, BTG’s chief executive, said: “In addition to clear financial strategic benefits, we have a potential FTSE 250 company that can be expected to provide increased share liquidity and a broader investor base.”

The deal, however did not meet with universal approval. A number of analysts said the merger was merely a sign of troubled times in the UK biotechnology market, as investors lose their appetite for risk and stock plummets.

Paul Cuddon, analyst at KBC Peel Hunt, said: “If it was a more buoyant market maybe there would be more money available for Protherics to develop their own strategy.”

He added that investors had hoped for a cash buy-out by a giant such as AstraZeneca when Protherics said last month that it had received several approaches.

The biotechnology market has seen a spate of takeover activity recently, spurred by large drugmakers seeking to acquire new products to fill their depleted drug development pipelines and smaller companies joining forces to stretch cash reserves.