Former HiberGene chief on the hunt for investors to save insolvent company

Former Trinity Biotech chief executive Brendan Farrell, co-founder of insolvent medical diagnostics company HiberGene Diagnostics, is looking for potential buyers for the business in a last-ditch effort to save it.

Mr Farrell, who also served as chief executive of HiberGene until he resigned from the board of the company in 2018, told The Irish Times on Friday that he had spoken to one Irish investor and two from outside the country with a view to securing funding to keep the business afloat.

He said he still believes in the company and hopes to attract investment conditional on the prospective backer undertaking due diligence and being satisfied that HiberGene was salvageable.

Along with its sister entity, HiberGene Diagnostics Sales, the company – which, among other diagnostic products in its portfolio, developed a rapid Covid-19 test – has called a meeting of creditors for September 9th at which accountant Colin Gaynor of Resolute Advisory is set to be appointed as liquidator.

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HiberGene’s board, which has been at loggerheads with a group of disgruntled investors in recent months, wrote to shareholders on August 26th, informing them of their intention to appoint a liquidator.

Blaming a group of shareholders for disclosing “confidential company business” to the Sunday Independent in recent weeks, the board told shareholders that a potential source of funding had walked away from negotiations in August over the negative publicity the company had been receiving.

However, The Irish Times reported this week that some shareholders, a group of whom are embroiled in a dispute with HiberGene’s board, may look to block his appointment and have an “independent” liquidator appointed in Mr Gaynor’s place.

Separately, documents seen by The Irish Times show that the company told shareholders last year it had started a legal process against healthcare and Covid-19 testing company RocDoc over “funds due and owing” related to an order of its Covid tests.

Asked for comment, a spokesman for RocDoc told The Irish Times the dispute with HiberGene was over a question of “supply and demand”.

The spokesman said HiberGene was unable to deliver a consignment of its Covid-19 PCR tests within an agreed time frame before the 2020 Christmas rush when demand for the testing was extremely high. HiberGene, the spokesman said, subsequently indicated it was unable to complete the order until the spring of 2021 when demand had subsided.

This was unacceptable, the spokesman said, and RocDoc did not end up using HiberGene’s Covid test at its testing facilities.

HiberGene’s board told shareholders in December 2021 that it had issued a letter of demand to RocDoc and that “the next stage... to securing the sums due and owing from RocDoc will involve the issuing of High Court proceedings in the new year”. No High Court proceedings have yet been initiated.

Asked whether and why HiberGene was unable to complete RocDoc’s order on time, chief executive David Corr said: “It would be improper of the board to respond to your questions in advance of the scheduled members and creditor meetings next week. These and other questions will be addressed at the members’ meeting.”