Not long after digesting its $450 million buyout of BioFire Diagnostics, bioMérieux seems to be on the hunt for another acquisition. Reuters reported recently that the French company is eyeing Siemens' microbiology unit.
Siemens declined to comment to the news agency, but Reuters cited sources who said Siemens may sell the division, which is part of its diagnostics arm and makes tools that test antibiotics and screen for bacteria. The division is rumored to have a price tag of about $500 million, according to the story. BioMérieux CEO Jean-Luc Belingard, speaking in reference to the Siemens sale discussions, told Reuters "there is a dossier available and we will look at it closely."
Belingard added that the exploration of buying the Siemens unit is part of a larger search for more acquisitions. BioMérieux is a diagnostics giant and makes a wide variety of diagnostic tests that help screen for a variety of diseases and also measure food and water quality, Reuters noted. But the company is also seeking to expand its DNA sequencing business, which is becoming an increasingly important element of the modern-day medical diagnostics industry.
In January, bioMérieux closed its $450 million acquisition of Utah-based BioFire Diagnostics, which recently launched FilmArray, an FDA-cleared CE-marked PCR technology that combines multiple molecular diagnostic steps into one system. BioFire also has tests in the pipeline for sepsis, diarrhea, meningitis and pneumonia.
- read the full Reuters story