Sterigenics raises bid for Canadian isotope supplier Nordion to $758 mn

US-based outsourced contract sterilisation services provider Sterigenics yesterday sweetened its takeover offer for Canadian medical isotope supplier Nordion Inc from $727 million to $758 million, after the buyout target received a rival bid from an unnamed buyer.

Illinois-based Sterigenics, owned by private equity firm GTCR, announced on 28 March that it had entered into an agreed friendly deal to buy Nordion for $11.75 per share. (See: US sterilisation services provider Sterigenics to buy Canada's Nordion for $727 mn)

A month later Nordion said that it had received an unsolicited $12.25 per share buyout proposal from an unnamed third party.

While the unsolicited proposal contained a comfort letter from financing sources, it did not have fully committed financing and was subject to other conditions.

Sterigenics yesterday raised its bid to $12.25 per share, a 17-per cent premium to Nordion's closing price of $10.48 on 27 March 27, a day before Sterigenics had first tabled its offer.

Nordion's board has unanimously determined that Sterigenics' amended bid is superior to the rival proposal and the company's shareholders are expected to vote on the bid on 27 May.

Ottawa, Canada-based Nordion is one of the world's leading producers of molybdenum-99, an isotope used in medical imaging and  a leading provider of sterilisation technologies and medical isotopes that are used in more than 40 countries around the world for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Its products are used daily by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical-device manufacturers, hospitals, clinics and research laboratories.

Over 500 customers use Nordion's isotopes for cardiac imaging, targeted cancer treatments and sterilisation of medical products.

With over 1,300 employees and 39 service centers around the world, Sterigenics is a leader in contract sterilisation solutions to the medical device, pharmaceutical and high performance/specialty materials industries industries.