Thermo Fisher to acquire One Lambda for $925 mn

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, the world's second-largest maker of lab equipments, today agreed to buy medical-diagnostic test products maker One Lambda for $925 million in cash, in order to expand its presence in vitro diagnostics.
Thermo Fisher outbid other suitors for the medical- testing company, Bloomberg reported, although it did not identify the other bidders.

Founded in 1984 by Dr Paul Terasaki, a pre-eminent researcher in the field of transplantation, One Lambda manufactures medical-diagnostic products, laboratory instruments and computer software used in testing procedures and evaluations.

The Canoga Park, California-based company is a pioneer in transplant diagnostics.

One Lambda's diagnostic tests are used by transplant centres for tissue typing, primarily to determine the compatibility of donors and recipients pre-transplant, and to detect the presence of antibodies that can lead to transplant rejection.
 
The privately held company has around 320 employees serving more than 1,400 laboratories worldwide. The business generated revenue of $182 million in 2011.
Thermo Fisher, which has made seven acquisitions since May 2011, said that the purchase price includes the cost of a three-year retention programme for key One Lambda employees, payments payable to certain shareholders for non-competition agreements and a one-year earn-out based on achieving certain financial targets.

Thermo Fisher expects the deal to generate synergies of about $15 million in 2015.

"One Lambda is an exciting addition to our specialty diagnostics portfolio," said Marc Casper, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher. "The One Lambda team has pioneered market-leading tests that are widely used across the transplant-testing workflow to improve patient outcomes. With its strong technology platform, high margin profile and good growth prospects, the business is perfectly aligned with our specialty in vitro diagnostics strategy.