GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the UK's largest drugmaker, has acquired Swiss-based GlycoVaxyn, a privately held specialist vaccine biopharmaceutical producer, from Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners in an all-cash transaction valuing the vaccine maker at about $212 million.

Founded in 2004, GlycoVaxyn is a spin-off of the Swiss Polytechnic Institute of Zürich. The company has developed a biological conjugation platform which is said to enable the development of a new generation of conjugate vaccines against major bacterial infections such as pneumonia and meningitis in both children and adults.

GlycoVaxyn, which signed a major collaboration agreement with GSK in 2012, is currently conducting Phase I trials with a vaccine candidate against E. coli infections and is expected to soon enter US Phase I trials for a vaccine against Shigellosis, a severe form of diarrhea.

The Swiss start-up was the second investment of BioDiscovery 3, a specialized life science investment fund managed by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.

From its founding in 2008 to 2012, the private equity firm has invested in 14 companies, with seven sold through private transactions, four publicly listed and three still privately held.