* To pay 177 million sterling in cash and shares deal
* Deal adds oncology products to BTG's sales network
* Biocompatibles shares up 11.7 percent, BTG down 11 percent
(Adds further reaction, updates shares)
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - British pharmaceutical group BTG is paying 177 million pounds ($282 million) in cash and shares to buy Biocompatibles, adding oncology products to the portfolio of specialist products it offers to hospitals.
Chief Executive Louise Makin said BTG, a known biotech consolidator since buying Protherics in 2008 to provide revenue to fund its development programme, had been looking for another business with high-margin, high-growth products sold to specialists.
Biocompatibles, which develops drug-eluting beads that deliver oncology drugs to the point of need, mainly to treat liver cancer, fitted the bill, she said.
"They are sold to interventional radiologists, and they have a significant business in the U.S. that is currently sold directly, but they also sell through distributors," she said in an interview on Friday.
Some of the distributor sales would be taken back in house at the end of the year, she said, and there was an option to break the other agreement at the end of next year.
That would complement the sales force BTG has recently built to sell its anti-poison drugs CroFab and DigiFab, which it gained in the Protherics deal.
"Were we to go direct in the U.S, it would exactly leverage that back-office infrastructure, and takes us into interventional medicine, which starts to get into the sort of area where Varisolve may be," she said.
Varisolve is BTG's varicose vein treatment, which is in late-stage trials and which it intends to sell itself in the United States.
Shares in Biocompatibles, which said it was in offer talks in September, rose as much as 16 percent to an all-time high of 390 pence and were trading up 11.7 percent at 376 pence at 1135 GMT.
BTG's stock, which has risen 21 percent in the last three months, partly in anticipation of a deal, analysts said, was down 11 percent at 223.3 pence.
Finncap analyst Keith Redpath said he liked the deal, and Biocompatibles shareholders were getting a good price.
"It creates a robust company," he said, adding the company would be able to strip out duplicated back-office functions in the United States.
Analysts at Jefferies also said the deal made strategic sense, but BTG was paying a chunky premium in relation to Biocompatibles' 2010 forecast sales of 31-34 million pounds.
However, they said Biocompatibles' products were still at early-launch stages and had probably not yet reached peak potential.
Under the terms of the deal, Biocompatibles shareholders will receive 1.6733 new BTG shares and 10 pence in cash, valuing each Biocompatibles share at about 430 pence, a 27.8 percent premium on Thursday's closing price, BTG said.
BTG said it had the backing of shareholders representing 53.2 percent of Biocompatibles' shares.
BTG said the deal would enhance earnings in the 12 months to March 31, 2012, the first full year following completion. (Editing by Will Waterman) ($1=.6274 Pound)