Roche and Ventana - Top 10 deals of 2008

Who: Roche
With: Ventana
What: $3.4B buyout

Summary: After months of saying that it wouldn't boost its initial bid for the company, Roche upped its offer for Ventana Medical systems to $3.4 billion. Ventana creates diagnostic technologies that automate the process for examining human tissue, determining effective treatments for cancer and other infectious diseases, as well as evaluating drug safety. Roche hopes the the buyout will help it compete in the personalized medicine space. The company will add about 250 employees to Ventana and expand its R&D facilities. Overall, Roche plans to invest $100 million in the diagnostics company this year.