Thermo Fisher nears $12.8-bn takeover of Life Technologies: report

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc has emerged as the leading bidder for Life Technologies Corp with $75 a share or $12.8 billion cash bid, Reuters yesterday reported, citing four people familiar with the matter.

Life Technologies' board met on Saturday to review three takeover offers, including from Thermo Fisher, Missouri-based life science company Sigma-Aldrich Corp and a private equity consortium comprising of Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, KKR & Co and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, the report said.

Thermo Fisher, the world's second-largest maker of lab instruments is trying to complete the deal and may announce it tomorrow, though negotiations could yet fall apart as terms are being finalised, the report added.

A completed deal would be Thermo Fisher's biggest acquisition since the 2006 merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific International for $12.8 billion, and create a company with revenues of nearly $17 billion.

Life Technologies, which has a market value of $11.6 billion and debt of about $2.4 billion, had in January said that it is exploring strategic alternatives and had hired Deutsche Bank and Moelis & Co to assist in the process.

But since the announcement, its stock price has surged from $55 per share to close on Friday at $68 on speculation over a possible deal.

Founded in 2008, California-based Life Technologies manufactures molecular diagnostic and research-use only products used to study DNA, which allow researchers to study an individual's genetic makeup, sequence genomes, and determine the specific genetic causes of diseases.

Its brands are found in nearly every life sciences lab in the world and include innovative instrument systems under the Applied Biosystems and Ion Torrent names, as well as the broadest range of reagents with its Invitrogen, GIBCO, Ambion, molecular probes products.

The company had 2012 sales of $3.8 billion, employs approximately 10,400 people, markets over 50,000 products in approximately 160 countries, and possesses one of the largest intellectual properties in the life sciences industry, with approximately 4,000 patents and exclusive licenses.

Last year, its closest rival Illumina Inc had repeatedly rejected a $6.7-billion unsolicited offer from Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG (See: Illumina rejects Roche's $6.7-bn bid).

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher specialises in the field of scientific machinery for health-care services, as well as providing chemical supplies and medical services for hospitals and scientific research.

It reported net profit of $1.2 billion in 2012 on revenues of $12.5 billion.