OPKO Health to buy Bio-Reference Laboratories in $1.47-bn stock deal

US medical test and medication company OPKO Health Inc yesterday struck a deal to buy clinical laboratory operator Bio-Reference Laboratories Inc in a $1.47 billion all stock deal in order to boost its diagnostics business.

Under the terms of the agreed deal, Bio-Reference shareholders will receive 2.75 shares of OPKO common stock for each share of Bio-Reference.

Based on OPKO's closing price of $19.12 per share on 3 June 2015, the transaction is valued at around $1.47 billion, or $52.58 per share of Bio-Reference.

Bio-Reference is the third-largest clinical laboratory in the US and is known for its leadership in the areas of genomics and genetic sequencing.

The New Jersey-based company offers clinical testing services to physicians, clinics, hospitals, long term care facilities and employers. Its testing expertise spans molecular diagnostics, anatomical pathology, women's health, oncology and rare disease genetics.

OPKO is a multi-national pharmaceutical and diagnostics company that has grown through a series of strategic acquisitions.

It develops treatments for secondary hyperparathyroidism, and has recently finished the patient recruitment for a Phase III trial against insufficiency in Vitamin D.

Miami-based OPKO operates in the US, Chile, Israel, Mexico, Uruguay, and Spain.

OPKO intends to leverage the national marketing, sales, and distribution resources of Bio-Reference to enhance sales of its 4Kscore test, a blood test that provides a patient's specific personalised risk score for prostate cancer as well as other OPKO diagnostic products under development.

Phillip Frost, MD, OPKO's chairman and CEO, said, "Bio-Reference Laboratories is a true success story that has culminated in cutting edge diagnostic solutions accompanied by a worldwide franchise in the diagnosis of rare diseases. Their newly introduced sequencing services for use in oncology are both innovative and impressive."