Note 3 - Other Investments

3 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2015

Investments Schedule [Abstract]

Investment [Text Block]

3. OTHER INVESTMENTS

Sirona Collaboration – On October 3, 2014, the Company entered into a collaborative arrangement with Sirona Genomics, Inc. (“Sirona”) for the commercialization of Sirona’s human leukocyte antigen (“HLA”) typing sample preparation and bioinformatics offering for next-generation sequencing. As part of this collaborative arrangement, the Company paid $0.7 million for a warrant with an exclusive option to acquire 100% of the common stock of Sirona and has loaned $7.7 million bearing interest at a market rate to Sirona for development funding. The collaborative arrangement also includes the potential for future interest bearing loans from the Company of up to $3.6 million over a two year period from the date of the arrangement, subject to the achievement of certain development milestones and other terms of the arrangement.

Sirona is considered to be a variable interest entity (“VIE”). However, because Sirona retains sole responsibility for and control of the operations of the business and for achieving product commercialization, the Company is not required to consolidate the results of Sirona. The maximum loss exposure associated with the VIE is $12.0 million, which includes the outstanding loan to Sirona of $7.7 million and the amount paid for the warrant of $0.7 million, and any future potential loans to be made by Immucor. The outstanding loan and the warrant asset are both included in Other assets on the Company’s consolidated balance sheet as of August 31, 2015.