Thermo Fisher buys Affymetrix for £898m

Thermo Fisher Scientific has bought Affymetrix, a provider of cellular and genetic analysis products for £898m ($1.3bn)

Thermo Fisher’s acquisition agreement is for £9.68 ($14) in cash, per share of Affymetrix and represents a purchase price of approximately £898m ($1.3bn).

The Street, also reported that the medical device maker, Thermo Fisher, still appears to be financially nimble to make more acquisitions.

Based in Santa Clara, California, Affymetrix has annual revenues of approximately £241m ($350m), which will be integrated into Thermo Fisher’s Life Sciences Solutions Segment.

Matthew Mishan, KeyBanc Captial Markets in a phone interview with The Street, said: "The nice part about this deal is that it gives them [Thermo Fisher] the flexibility with capital allocation to do more deals.

“In diagnostics, specifically, specialty diagnostics, they haven't done a deal. That's a higher-margin, higher-growth business they could look to expand."

Marc Casper, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific said: “For shareholders, we expect the transaction to create value by generating attractive financial returns, including immediate accretion to our adjusted EPS.

“The acquisition of Affymetrix will strengthen our leadership in biosciences and create new market opportunities for us in genetic analysis.”

Affymetrix’s technologies enable parallel and multiplex analysis of biological systems at the cellular, protein and genetic level, facilitating the transition of research tools into clinical and applied markets.

The company’s products are used by customers working in life sciences and translational research, molecular diagnostics, reproductive health and agricultural biotechnology.

Casper said: “In biosciences, the company’s antibody portfolio will significantly expand our offering in the fast-growing flow cytometry market and customers will have greater access to these products through our global scale and commercial reach.

“In genetic analysis, Affymetrix’s technologies are highly complementary and present new opportunities for us in targeted clinical and applied markets.”

Frank Witney, president and chief executive officer of Affymetrix, said: “We are excited about the opportunity to combine our portfolios and strengthen our position in high-growth markets such as single-cell biology, reproductive health and AgBio.

“We look forward to working closely with the Thermo Fisher team to ensure a smooth transition and integration.”