BP does not need to acquire Advent. That is the whole point of a contract manufacturer.
At this time Advent is primarily their contracts, with employees and any customers. Their value depends on the valuation of the contracts.
A contract with NWBO on buyout depends on the desire of the acquiring company to keep them on as the contract manufacturer at that company’s new plant, Sawston. They very well may do so, and they do not have to do a thing to keep them as the contract manufacturer. They are bound by contract to continue unless one of the parties terminates the contract. That would not be in Advent’s interest.
I think a company acquiring NWBO likely would keep them on, or buyout their employment contracts to keep the talent. Advent itself could then develop its own plant or become a marketing organization selling contract manufacturing services for other companies or they could sell themselves, basically their talent, back to CRL/Cognate.
The notion that NWBO has diverted its capital to Advent is a false notion. It’s part of a classic project finance / management structure. While the relationship is symbiotically useful to both companies, it is still simply a classic contract manufacturing relationship, except that Advent does not own the plant it is managing. It could keep the London facility as it operated before Sawston, and continue to do what it did before or expand based on its talent and experience developing Sawston as an independent entity if no other company wants a UK based contract manufacturer with Advent’s unique and specialized experience. I would guess that another contract manufacturer would probably snap them up if they would want to be acquired at that time, given that they are privately held.
