Abel Bullock will drink your milkshake.
Bullock, CEO and founder of the biotech company Surgenex, bought the Marietta, Georgia, headquarters of MiMedx, both Surgenex’s archrival and counterparty in a cutthroat legal battle.
A Delaware company tied to Bullock acquired the 79,854-square-foot office and research space for $12.8 million, documents reviewed by The Real Deal show. The deal closed in late August, records show.
MiMedx has a lease in place until 2029 with the option to extend, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. MiMedx’s current rent is around $15.90 per square foot, according to SEC filings; if it opts to stay after 2029, that’s set to rise to $17 per square foot, exceeding $1.36 million annually.
Surgenex and MiMedx are in a blood feud that could be considered biotech’s version of the Hatfield and McCoys. MiMedx, which makes wound care products including grafts made from placental tissue, filed at least two lawsuits against Surgenex in 2024.
In a lawsuit filed in Arizona, MiMedx alleges Surgenex’s graft products infringe on MiMedx’s patents. (Surgenex denied the allegations in its filings.)
In another lawsuit filed in Georgia, MiMedx alleges Surgenex raided its employees and engaged in unfair competition.
“Surgenex has made a commitment to take any steps necessary, including entering into business arrangements on questionable economic terms, to compete through unfair and improper methods for the specific purpose of significantly harming MiMedx’s business,” the complaint stated.
In a counterclaim, Surgenex alleges MiMedx was the one unfairly competing by selling a product that Surgenex had conceived. Surgenex also alleges a MiMedx employee intimidated a Surgenex employee by chasing him in his car.
MiMedx’s claims “are part of a series of malicious actions taken by MiMedx in an attempt to misappropriate and wrongfully exploit technology invented by Surgenex, dominate the medical allograft industry and aggregate additional profits to itself,” Surgenex said in a court filing.
MiMedx has also gone after at least 10 former employees who went to work for Surgenex for violating noncompetes. The former employees filed counterclaims, describing the MiMedx suit as a “blatant intimidation tactic” against former employees who were “forced to leave” MiMedx over the company’s wrongdoing.
Now, after months of back-and-forth litigation, MiMedx finds itself in the uncomfortable position of having to occupy a building — where it both conducts research and has closed-door meetings — that is owned by its main competitor’s CEO.
A representative for Bullock declined to comment.
The deal
In a press release announcing the deal, the buyer was not named. David Gant of Marcus & Millichap, who represented the seller, said the site received a lot of interest. Institutional investors ultimately passed because of its size.
Gant called the property “unique,” with parts of the complex specifically designed for MiMedx.
The site at 1775 West Oak Commons Court spans over seven acres and has 291 parking spaces. The building has laboratory and clean-room space, a warehouse and a loading dock along with executive office areas.
It is unclear what Bullock can do with the property or exactly what his agenda is, since it’s subject to a lease agreement with MiMedx. If MiMedx leaves, finding a new property could be difficult to find and costly to build out to its parameters.
MiMedx declined to comment.
MiMedx’s litigation with Surgenex comes years after the firm’s former executives found themselves at the center of an accounting fraud scandal. In 2020, MiMedx paid $6.5 million to settle allegations brought by the Department of Justice that the company submitted false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs. MiMedx’s former CEO and former chief operating officer were convicted of accounting fraud as part of a scheme to fraudulently inflate MiMedx’s revenue.
Most of the company’s board and executive team has since been replaced.