Shares of life sciences company (NASDAQ: ABCM) were up 13.7% Friday afternoon after rising more than 14.6% earlier in the day. The impetus for the rise was the company's board of directors announcing strategic alternatives that included selling the company. The stock is up more than 47% this year.

Abcam is a healthcare company based in Great Britain that makes antibodies and associated protein research tools, such as reagents and assays, used by biotech companies to study biological pathways for diagnostic and drug discovery purposes. Abcam's board said that the process of looking at strategic alternatives will begin immediately and will include a wide range of possibilities to increase shareholder value, including the potential sale of Abcam. The company has received a number of inquiries regarding a buyout and said it will use the services of Lazard and Morgan Stanley to look at its options.

Abcam is attractive because it has a customer base of 750,000 researchers who have used the company's tools, and it carries more than 110,000 products.

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Source Fool.com