Danaher acquires diagnostic systems maker Iris for $338 mn

Danaher Corporation, a leading US science and technology company with innovative products, yesterday agreed to buy diagnostic systems maker Iris International Inc for approximately $338 million in an all-cash deal to reinforce its diagnostic business, .

Danaher, formerly known as DMG, Inc. and Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc, has agreed to pay $19.50 for each Iris share, representing a premium of more than 45 per cent to the stock's Friday closing price.

Further to the news, shares in Iris shot up over 45 per cent to $19.54 on yesterday's trading on Nasdaq. The shares were up 26.5 per cent in the past one year up to Friday. Danaher shares ended almost flat at $54.84.

California-based Iris is a leading manufacturer of automated diagnostics systems and consumables. The company operates two main divisions: Iris diagnostics and Iris sample processing.

Its automated urinalysis technology is installed in major medical institutions around the world. The analysers are used for urinalysis and microscopic analysis of body fluids, and they display real-time microscopic images on a video screen, significantly reducing the costly and time consuming manual microscopic analysis.

Iris also makes innovative centrifuges and blood analysis products which are widely used by major and minor medical institutions worldwide. It manufactures the world's fastest blood separator, and the bench-top centrifuges are used for specimen preparation in coagulation, cytology, hematology and urinalysis.